


Lex!Ghost

by Tallihensia



Category: Smallville
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Ghosts, Halloween, Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-01
Updated: 2009-11-01
Packaged: 2017-11-01 14:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/357948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lex is shot by an intruder, but before Clark can get to him, Lex vanishes. While Clark tries to figure out what happened, strange things start occurring around him, complicating matters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lex!Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Only mine in my dreams. ^^ This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
> 
>  **Warnings:** blood, mild horror. Somewhat graphic depictions of violence? Not really, mostly descriptions of the blood, but I thought I'd play it safe with the AO3 warnings...
> 
>  **Spoilers:** none
> 
>  **Notes:** For the [Clexmas 2009 Halloween Challenge](http://community.livejournal.com/clexmas/7391.html), prompt #5: "Lex is a ghost! Oh noes! Save him, Clark!" I, uh, kindof took that a bit more seriously than the prompt implies. But it all works out all right in the end, really! ^^
> 
> I don't think I've ever rushed anything for a deadline that furiously other than last year's NaNo. ;p Much thanks for the ultra-quick beta from Ronda while I was freaking out over the deadline, and also to Ctbn for all the encouragement and most especially for the awesome cover banner!
> 
> Set mid-season 2. Moreorless right after 'Dichotic' but that episode doesn't have much to do with it other than I wanted it to be before 'Insurgence'. (And I didn't want to deal with 'Skinwalker'. ;p) Note that this story ONLY follows canon up to that point; no other later canon. (i.e., there are no caves in Smallville!) If we've had clues about things up to that point, they're fair game in the story, but the ultimate canon as established later is not valid and the clues can go in any which other direction. Just so you know. ;D

[ ](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a169/alatri/banners/LexGhost_Large.jpg)

  


banner by Ctbn60

# Lex!Ghost

"Okay, I'm done with my chores!" Clark barreled through the front door and flung himself upstairs. 

Left in the wake below, his parents exchanged looks. Martha glanced at the clock and silently counted down. Almost to the minute, the whirlwind reappeared. 

"I can take the truck, right? You don't need it?" Freshly redressed, Clark grabbed an apple and bit into it while looking at them with puppy-dog eyes.

In spite of his feelings, Jonathan had to laugh. "You can use the truck."

"I'll put dinner back so we can eat together - be home by six," Martha added.

Clark stopped mid-bite, the apple dangling out and his eyes wide. "But... It's our movie night! You said I could be out the whole day." 

Even Jonathan looked at Martha with surprise. Clark had done some fast-talking to get Jonathan to agree, but Martha had been a softer touch originally.

"Oh," Martha sighed. "I guess Lex didn't tell you - he has a date tonight. He was asking me about which restaurants we liked the best."

Clark went from wiggly puppy to kicked dog before his mom even finished the sentence.

His parents exchanged looks again. 

"Son, you know Lex has his own life---"

The explosion didn't take them by surprise.

"It's not fair! We haven't had a chance to get together for movie night for *AGES*. Ever since he got back. First it was Desiree," Clark's voice spat jealous venom as he spoke her name, "then it was Lionel taking over the mansion, then it was a poetry-reading werewolf, then... Ryan." Clark's temper abruptly disappeared as he faltered over Ryan's name.

Jonathan clapped a hand on Clark's shoulder. Gruffly, he said, "Then you should make the most of your time. You finished up early, so you've got the whole afternoon. Go out and have fun. Drag that boy out into the sun or something - he needs to get out of that mausoleum." 

As a distraction, it worked great. Clark blinked at his father and then gave him an almost sunny smile. "Thanks Dad," he said quietly and hugged him tight.

After Clark drove off in the truck, Martha turned and looked at Jonathan, her eyebrows raised expressively. 

"What?" Jonathan asked defensively.

Martha didn't say anything.

Jonathan sighed. "I couldn't do that to him. And Lex isn't really that bad."

Martha almost dropped the towel she was holding.

"I know, I know. But we've come a long way from last year. I don't trust Luthor... but as Clark keeps pointing out, Lex isn't Lionel. That's been pretty obvious in the last month since Lionel moved in." Jonathan grimaced.

"If this is about my job again..."

"No!" Jonathan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't like it, but you've got your reasons and I accept that. Lex is something different."

Martha suddenly nodded in comprehension. "You talked to Ryan."

"Well, yes," Jonathan admitted. "And Ryan made me look at myself. But it was more than that. Lex was really nice to Ryan, for no other reason but to be nice. He stepped in and really handled everything. That restraining order... we could have done that too. Judge Ross would have been fine with it. But we didn't think of it. Lex did."

"It's easy to see sometimes why Clark has such a crush on him," Martha agreed with a tart tone to her voice.

"Oh ho..." Jonathan drawled out. "Bringing up Lex's date wasn't such an off-hand remark of yours after all. Martha, that was harsh."

She put the towel down and shrugged. "Lex really was asking about the restaurants, though I admit I encouraged him about Helen - she sounds like she could be right for him."

"And it gets him away from Clark."

"I hope they'll always be good friends," Martha said primly.

Jonathan laughed. "Just as long as they're not anything more."

Martha sighed. "If I thought it would be good for them, I wouldn't mind. But I don't think that's a healthy relationship for either of them. They're six years and worlds apart, and they both have problems trusting others. I think Clark's interest in Lana is much better for him."

"And that's where we don't agree. Lana is not strong enough to be a good girlfriend for Clark, and I doubt her commitment to anybody. The way she broke it off with Whitney was unforgivable; no soldier should ever get a ‘Dear John' video message when it should be something said in person." Jonathan glanced at the door. "Martha, Clark might have finished his chores, but I still have mine to do. Why don't we agree to disagree as usual?"

Martha opened her mouth to defend Lana and then closed it. Jonathan and she had gone over this before and he was right that they weren't going to solve it in the next five minutes. Unfortunately, it didn't really matter what either of them thought in the end, because Clark's feelings were in Clark's hands. Martha only hoped that it wouldn't result in her son's heart being broken.

... ... ...

 

Clark parked the truck and started for the front door before hesitating. When Lionel had moved in, he not only brought himself, but also a horde of servants and security guards. Smallville had always talked about rich boy Lex and his servants, but it was obvious now just how minimalist Lex had been, with just his housekeeper and cook and groundskeepers, along with the occasional specialty employee like the fencing instructor, Heike. Lex's employees were also a lot like him, informal and relaxed though maintaining a proper decorum. Lionel's servants... were cold and intimidating. With a grimace, Clark slipped around the back to the kitchen entrance instead.

Inside the kitchen, it was much more homey. They even had some Halloween decorations up ready for Tuesday, and Clark could see the cookie molds off to one side for a start on the baking. That made Clark grin just a bit - Lex had decided against a party, but apparently there would at least be some fun. They would just work around Lionel's grumpy servants.

"Hi Mrs. Tuppet." Clark smiled at one of his most favorite people in the mansion. She not only appreciated the Kent organic produce, but she also made sure that Lex got meals on a semi-regular basis. When Lionel moved in after the storm, he'd brought his own cook and there had been kitchen battles of epic proportions before Lex finally put his foot down, stood up to his father and sent the other back to Metropolis. 

"Hi Clark," she smiled easily back at him. "Lex is over in the library."

Clark raised his eyebrows - normally Lex was in the massive living room that also masqueraded as his office.

"Mr. Luthor is currently working above the study," the cook said meaningfully. Clark instantly understood - if Lionel was in that upper section above the living room, that would be entirely too close for Lex. His father had accepted the dictates that Lex had laid down about not rearranging his things anymore... but Lionel really pushed it sometimes. Clark thought that Lionel got a perverse pleasure over seeing how far he could push his son. Most of the time Lex ignored his father... but sometimes it was too much and he ran instead. 

"Thanks Mrs. Tuppet. I'll go find him there." ‘Find' being the operative word - the library was pretty huge. A good place to hide out when a retreat was needed.

"You do that, dear. And don't forget to bring him back out at 5pm for dinner. I'll have your favorite steak and potatoes, and if you're eating, he is sure to as well."

Almost out the door, Clark paused with his hand on the frame. "Lex... um... Wasn't Lex... um... date?" He was too afraid to turn around, but when the silence stretched out he finally did.

Mrs. Tuppet enveloped him in a hug. "You poor boy. Was that what you were thinking? No, as soon as Lex realized it was your movie night, he canceled that."

Clark was sure Lex hadn't remembered just on his own. His friend, while careful in all business aspects, tended to be a little careless on his own. "Thank you," he said again, inadequately, while his heart lifted. There had been a choice, and Lex had chosen him.

"You're welcome. Now you go out there and bring a smile to his face. It's been too long since we've seen a real Lex-smile."

With a much more cheerful grin, Clark left the kitchen and sneaked through the back corridors to the library. 

Inside the library, Clark looked around at the shelves of books and then shrugged and used his x-ray vision to find the skeleton in the room. He saw familiar long bones over at the desk under the window where Lex liked to do research. However, he also saw another skeleton ... it was back in the stacks, shorter than Lex and more rough around the edges; Lex's bones were very smooth and elegant - no old cracks or fused disks or bends in the spine. Clark really liked Lex's bones. This other skeleton wasn't nearly as smooth, but pretty normal for most people. It was probably a servant re-shelving books or something. 

Clark started to flip back to regular vision when the x-ray caught a black outline of void in the bony hands. It was a familiar set of two rectangles, a shape he grown to hate. A gun, pointed at Lex...

With a gasp, Clark flung himself forward, even as he heard the bang of a gunshot.

He blurred into top speed, running for the bullet, trying to get to it before it got to Lex. A shelf in his way was knocked down, books flying everywhere; Clark barely noticed. He was going to make it. The bullet was there, he could see it. It was approaching the table, but Clark was now only a step away. 

Clark reached for the bullet, stretching his fingers out as the feet turned into inches... and his body suddenly twisted with pain, his speed disappearing as he collapsed. The edge of the table clipped his hip, scraping his skin beneath his shirt. 

Looking up as he fell, Clark finally saw the meteor rock that Lex was holding in one hand, a magnifying glass in the other. He looked further up to see Lex's gaze on him, his eyes wide with concern as he started to stand up. Clark's head hit the table with a jar, even as he continued to reach out. 

Lex reached back towards him, the magnifying glass falling slowly down as he spoke Clark's name with concern and worry. Then Lex's hand convulsed and tightened. 

Clark's gaze moved past Lex's hand. The bullet had been aimed for his upper chest, but as Lex stood the bullet instead took him lower down, just under the rib cage. Blood spread on his light blue shirt.

His head bouncing off the wooden table, Clark grabbed the edge of the desk, trying to keep himself upright. "Lex!" 

Lex's eyes were wide with surprise and pain as he staggered back, the chair scraping across the floor behind him. His hand tightened around the meteor rock as he instinctively brought his hands to the injury.

There was a shimmering in the air, a flicker that Clark heard with something other than his ears and then Lex disappeared.

"Lex!!" Clark screamed, staring at the empty spot where his friend used to be. There was blood on the chair back, splattered across the wood. Clark could see a twist of metal that used to be the bullet buried inside the wood.

Clark pulled himself up the rest of the way until he was standing, still a little wobbly but most of the twisting pain was gone. Frantically, he looked around the room, not seeing anything except books and the gunman.

With a few strides, Clark was there, balling his hands in the man's shirt, lifting him up against the bookcase, screaming at him. "Where is Lex? What have you done to Lex?"

The man was gibbering, yelling back about what had Clark done and where had Lex gone. Even as Clark screamed at him, he screamed back at Clark, unnerved by Lex's disappearance.

Clark tightened his grip, his fear transmuting to rage.

"Clark Kent, put him DOWN!" Firm and commanding, another voice finally got through. Not the first time it had spoken, but something this time got to Clark.

He twisted his head far enough to see Lionel standing next to him, the dark glasses focused eerily on him. "He shot Lex," Clark said helplessly, his gaze looking further back to the empty table.

"Put him down, Clark, and my security guards will take him," Lionel said again, his voice this time soothing with the command.

"He did something... Lex is gone... The bullet..." Clark loosened his grip and the man fell heavily to the ground. 

The security guards rushed in to grab the man. Crumpled upon the ground, he looked like an ordinary middle-aged businessman, graying at the temples, slightly overweight. If it wasn't for the gun on the ground next to him.

"Why!?" Clark forced himself not to grab the gun and crumple it in his hand. He wanted to do *something*. But Lex was gone. "Why Lex!?" Why his friend? Where was Lex?

Distracted from his victim's disappearance, hate appeared in the man's eyes. "A son for a son!" the man spat out, glaring at Lionel. "My boy died after I was laid off and had no insurance and no money. The company didn't need to lay us off - it was all spite because of the whim of that man. So how does it feel?" He continued to yell out insults as the security dragged him out at a wave of Lionel's hand.

Clark transferred his glare onto Lex's father. "How often is Lex going to pay for things *you* did! Why the hell can't you just live your life and keep Lex out of it!?" 

Behind the glasses, Lionel appeared to glare back, "This doesn't happen in Metropolis! We have security and checkpoints there. It's Lex's insistence on minimalist living here that leaves him open to these sorts of attacks. Not to mention the other things your town does to him. I hate this town." Lionel whirled around and stalked to the desk. 

"Clark Kent, where is my son?"

Clark gulped, his eyes returning to the blood-stained chair. There was a lot more blood on the chair then there had been on the front of Lex's shirt. Centered around the bullet buried in the wood was a spray of tiny droplets of blood. Some of the blood had started to trickle down, leaving streaks on the chair. Memory kept showing Clark his friend's blue shirt, a small red stain that had grown larger as Clark had watched, the stain spreading downwards until Lex had disappeared.

"He shot him," Clark whispered. "He shot Lex. And then Lex disappeared."

"People don't disappear!" One of the other security guards said scornfully. "Tell the truth. What did you do with the body?"

Clark's eyes widened, his shock more over the guard saying 'body' than at the accusation. 'Body' meant that somebody was dead. Lex wasn't dead. Lex *couldn't* be dead. Lex was... gone.

Lionel ran a finger over the wood varnish of the desk, then turned. "Everybody out. Clark, you stay. I want everybody else out of here now."

"But sir!"

"NOW!"

There were several more protests and objections, but Lionel overrode them all. Reluctantly they left.

While the arguments had been going on, Clark drifted over to the desk, his gaze focused on the bloodstains on the chair and his thoughts on his friend. At the edge of the desk, Clark felt dizzy. He kept thinking about Lex and that bullet. Clark had been so close; one more second... If it hadn't been for the darn meteor rock. "Lex, why---" Why did he have to be experimenting with the rock? Why couldn't he just leave that stuff alone? Lex's damn burning curiosity... Clark had told him a hundred times to stay away from the meteors!

"Clark," Lionel's firm voice cut through Clark's thoughts, "tell me what happened."

Clark drew in his breath, and then took another. "Lex." He couldn't get any further.

"Start from outside the library, as you're coming in."

Glancing back, Clark blinked a bit to see the chaos he'd left in his wake. He remembered knocking over one bookshelf, but there were at least two down and books strewn everywhere. "I came in and looked for Lex... I saw the other guy with his gun out. I ran forward but I was too late." His hand, reaching out for the bullet. The bullet, hitting Lex. "Lex..."

"What happened then?"

Clark shrugged. "Lex vanished. He just---disappeared. I don't... I don't know what happened." Clark ran his hand over the edge of the desk, not quite daring to go to the chair where his whole attention was.

"Ouch!" Clark looked down at his hand in disbelief as blood welled out.

"What is it?" Lionel's voice sharpened.

"Um," Clark plucked at his finger. "A splinter." He had a splinter in his hand. How did he have a splinter? 

"Let me see." Lionel strode up and grabbed Clark's hand, leaning close to see, raising his glasses as he did so. With a sigh, he let go. "Just a normal wooden one, thank goodness."

"Umm..." Clark's eyes were round and he didn't know what to think. He pulled his hand back to himself and stuck his finger in his mouth.

"That damn meteor rock is like serpentine - chip it and it fragments into minute particles. Apparently Lex has been experimenting; there are meteor shards all over the desk." Lionel waved his hand at the surface, which was dented and scraped and had little green slivers all over it. "The three thousand dollar desk," Lionel added, frowning at the damage. "Damn it, Lex, you could at least have put a cover on it, a cutting board or something. Better yet, take it to a lab where it can be contained!"

Green glowing slivers. Clark backed away from the desk, feeling his dizziness recede. As his thoughts cleared, he realized... "How?" Clark glanced from the table to Lionel. "Um, I mean... Aren't you blind?"

Lionel slipped off the dark glasses and put them in his jacket pocket. "Not entirely. My vision has been coming back for the last couple of weeks."

Clark gulped. He remembered being on the red meteors and crumpling a gun in front of Lionel. Had he *seen* that? "Why would you do that?"

"Why would I what? Not tell anybody?" Lionel smiled without being happy. It was one of the scary smiles that made Clark nervous. "You wouldn't believe the things people will do when they don't think you can see."

"Ah..." Clark looked down at his hands, concentrating on plucking the splinter out, though it wasn't actually there anymore, pushed out as he healed.

Lionel chuckled without mirth. "Also, my sight isn't completely back. If I take off the glasses now and people think I can see, they'll see it as a sign of weakness if I don't see *everything*. In our world, weakness is something that others will have only contempt for."

 

"But being blind isn't a problem?"

"Ah, but you see, working through adversity is strength." Lionel mocked the world with the proverb. "Absolutes are strengths. In-betweens are weaknesses." Lionel's voice sharpened, "Now tell me what really happened."

Clark blinked at the change. "Um."

Seeming to realize he'd made a mistake, Lionel's voice softened again. "It's all right, Clark. We all have secrets. It's part of living. Now I've shared one of mine; you can trust me. For Lex. Tell me for Lex. What happened here?"

Clark opened and closed his mouth a few times. For Lex's sake he *wanted* to answer, however for once he actually had told the truth. Well, leaving out his x-ray vision and the speed, that is - but neither of those had made a bit of difference for what had happened. If they had made a difference, Lex wouldn't have been shot. That damned... "Lex was holding a meteor rock," Clark suddenly remembered. "He was holding the rock and a magnifying glass. He dropped the glass," Clark looked and found it on the desk, still intact, "but he was still holding the rock. Lex was shot," Clark's voice trembled as he wished he could tear through time and stop that from having happened. "And then he vanished."

Lionel tapped his lips thoughtfully. "Stranger things have happened with meteor rock. I take it the rock vanished too?"

"Yes." Clark didn't even have to look around. If that thing had still been in the room, he would have been curled up in pain on the floor. Lex had been holding it. His eyes had been on Clark. Those clear blue pools had been sharp with concern for Clark as Clark was crumpling before him. The bullet had struck, Lex was collapsing himself, and his thoughts had been for Clark. "Lex..." Clark clenched his hands into fists. His useless, worthless hands. He had caught bullets before. But he couldn't catch this one, the most important one. "Lex."

"Lex was still alive when he vanished?"

Startled, Clark jerked. He'd forgotten Lionel was there. The blunt way that had been phrased... Clark shuddered. "Yes. Yes, he was alive. Is alive. The bullet hit him here," Clark put his fingers on his lower ribcage. He remembered the blood on the blue shirt, the hole about the size of one of the buttons, but off to the side. The stain spreading. His friend vanishing.

Lionel made a satisfied noise. "If Lex was alive when he disappeared, then he is most likely still alive now. Those rocks do strange things, but they rarely kill, and they often prolong life."

Clark opened his mouth to protest, and then shut it again. He wasn't sharing what he knew of the rocks. It could only get him in more trouble. He latched onto another part. "You don't think Lex is dead?" In spite of himself, his voice trembled with hope and fear.

"He's alive." Lionel's voice had confidence.

"Because Luthors can't die?" Clark couldn't help the sarcasm. He'd heard too much ‘Luthors don't XXX'; mostly relayed as Lex's life lessons.

Lionel snorted and gave Clark an approving smirk. "Hardly. But Lex is a survivor. I won't believe he's dead."

For the first time ever, Clark realized what a trap Lex was in. That glimpse of approval from Lionel was weirdly gratifying even though he hated Lionel. For Lex, his friend would probably do anything to get it. 

"How are you going to get Lex back?" Clark desperately redirected the conversation. 

Giving Clark a considering stare, but ultimately moving on, Lionel turned back to the desk, touching the blood-stained chair. "Well, obviously the police aren't going to be much use. I'll have to bring the scientists in on this one. It might have been teleportation - I'll start checking the hospitals discreetly and we can put up machines that scan into different wavelength residuals. There are other things we can test for knowing the meteor rock is involved." Lionel's grip on the chair back tightened until his veins stood out. "I assure you, Clark. None of my people will rest until my son is found." 

"Your son. It makes it sound like he's a possession that you're trying to retrieve. Don't you care about *him*?" Clark's resentment and his fear burst through with things he would normally never say.

"I love my son," Lionel snapped. He paced around the table, his jaw clenched as he looked at anything but Clark. Finally he came to a stop. 

"I know I'm not the best father in the world. I certainly don't match up to the wondrous Kents. However, I didn't have the best role models to follow either. My parents didn't want a child until I was old enough to be useful - I grew up thinking black and blue were normal colors on skin. When I decided to have a family of my own... I made two promises to myself. I would never raise a hand to my children, and I would teach them to be strong, to survive on their own. For love..." Lionel grimaced, "I hoped the mother of my children would provide that, since I had no experience. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong woman for that."

Clark had been barely breathing, afraid to make a sound, he was so intent on listening. "But Lex's mom loved him!"

Lionel gave Clark another cynical look. "That's what Lex told you. And that's what he believes. I won't take that away from him."

"But..." Clark's mouth was opening and closing.

"You've seen the way he never fully hugs anybody but keeps a little distance between people?"

Well, most people but Clark himself. It was one of the things that was special about Lex being Clark's friend.

"Lex learned to do that when he was just a child. When his mother would have him brought down to her but she didn't want her expensive dresses crushed or her make-up smudged." Lionel shook his head. "I wasn't around much in the early days - travelling to establish LuthorCorp. When I found out what she was doing, there wasn't much I could do about it. There are plenty of guides on raising children, however there aren't so many on how to love them. People expect that to come naturally. I did the best I could." 

Lionel looked squarely at Clark. "I do love my son. And if you repeat one word about his mother to him, I will deny it."

"Why are you telling me?" Clark really was baffled. And yet it was oddly familiar. Lex too would come out with things to tell Clark that most people would never know, and Lex just spouted it off like it was nothing. Lionel's story had much the same feel.

"Because you are providing my son what I never could," Lionel said softly. "Whatever else you are, you are my son's friend, and that's more important than anything." 

Clark gulped and tried to back away but he already had his back to the bookcase. The ‘whatever else you are' had him so freaked out he almost didn't absorb the rest. When he did, that freaked him even more.

Lionel picked up his dark glasses and stared at them. "Go home, Clark. Go home to your parents, and I'll find Lex and bring him back."

"But..."

"You can't do anything here. My scientists will come in, and we'll figure out what the meteorite did and get him back." Lionel put his glasses on and turned to the library door, dismissing Clark.

Clark looked unhappily at the chair with Lex's blood drying to a dark brown stain. He couldn't argue with Mr. Luthor. He couldn't think of a single thing he could do. He *wanted* to help Lex; to turn back the clock of time and catch that bullet. He wanted this day to be his day with Lex where they would hang out and talk about anything and everything and just spend time together. Instead, Lex was gone. And despite Lionel's words, he wasn't sure that Lex was even alive. It was a horrible feeling, not knowing. Lex was gone. And Clark could do nothing about it.

Wiping his eyes, Clark left the room.

... ... ...

 

"Because you are providing my son what I never could," Lionel said, insincerity lacing through his voice. "Whatever else you are," threat laced through the words, "you are my son's friend, and that's more important than anything." 

"Asshole," Lex growled. "Clark, don't fall for that shit. He says what people want to hear." Sometimes, he really wanted to believe his father's words... but Lex had too much experience to say otherwise.

Clark looked terrified, backed up against the bookshelf, eyes wide, a deer caught in headlights - or his father's cruelty. 

"Clark, it's okay," Lex said again, walking up to his friend and putting a hand through him. With a grimace, he pulled his hand out and rested it on the edge of where Clark's body should be, where his eyes told him it was. He felt nothing. "Clark, I'm here. It's okay."

His young friend looked through Lex, not seeing him, his expressive face hiding nothing but showing all his sadness and fear. "Lex," he whispered, too low to be heard by anybody not directly next to him, and moisture glinted in the edges of his eyes.

Again, Lex tried to hold him, to touch him, to talk to him, to do *something* that would let Clark know it was okay. Again, he failed. The look on Clark's face was more than Lex could bear, his friend's tall frame bent with the weight of failure and despair, his secrets nothing to his pain. Lex followed Clark to the door, reaching out and watching his hand go through Clark. He watched the door close between them; Clark never knowing that Lex was there.

At least with Clark gone, his father couldn't try and get Clark's secrets out of him. That had been a very tense moment earlier. If Clark *had* done anything untoward, he would have told Lex's father. It had been that close. Lionel had been clever with the manipulation of an unhappy Clark, and the only thing that saved him was that Clark had been too late. Or something. Lex still wasn't totally sure what had happened.

Sourly, he glanced down at himself, at the torn and bloody shirt where the bullet had entered. He could feel a gap in his shirt in the back where the bullet had gone out. The hole was still there, though it wasn't bleeding - it was open, raw and hurt when Lex poked at it, but otherwise was just... there. And Lex had a paperweight in his hand that he couldn't put down. Lex switched his gaze to the meteor rock he was holding and sighed. Clark was probably right that he shouldn't be experimenting with it, but the different properties and effects were so interesting Lex couldn't let it go. It was a mystery from beyond the stars and he was fascinated by it.

His father let the security back in, telling them to collect basic evidence but to avoid disturbing things as much as possible. Predictably, Lionel didn't warn them about the meteorite splinters on the desk, though earlier he'd been all fake concern over Clark. Lex winced as he saw one of the guards putting some of the shards in a plastic bag. He didn't think his father had lied about it having similar structure to asbestos. Inhaling the tiny particles could well be what happened to Earl and Professor Hamilton. "Now see, if you had told me that, I would have known to use a dust mask. But no. You won't tell me anything that might be useful, and instead berate me when I do something that I didn't know about." And knowingly expose the minions to danger they didn't know about either. Typical. 

Lex studied his father as he ordered the servants around. "So, you can learn things that people do around someone when they don't think you can see, can you?" Lex grinned a similar shark-smile to his dad's. "What do you think *you* will say and do when you don't even know I'm in the room with you?" 

It was an inconvenience to be insubstantial like this, and Lex was sorry for Clark's pain, but he was going to enjoy this chance to find out all his dad's little dirty secrets. Lex wasn't really surprised about the returning eyesight, though he'd had his own little moment of frantically wondering if he'd revealed anything he shouldn't. Human nature. Easy to attribute Clark's panic to something more, but it could also have been something that simple. 

Lex had to be careful not to let his dreams push him too far. The splinter in Clark's finger, for example. That had been a surprise, and yet a welcome one as it had been right in front of his father. Lex *knew* there was more to Clark than met the eyes... but there was also no way in the world that he wanted his father to realize the same. Unfortunately, his father was no fool. 

When Lex came to Smallville, the meteor rocks and their various effects were something that had caught his attention early - only to find out that his father was there before him. To his frustration, Lex still hadn't discovered what the mysterious 'Level 3' had been about. And every time Lex thought he had found a scientist or reporter to dig into it who was uncontaminated... either they turned out to also be Lionel's or they died. Or both. And Lex never knew if he had been there after his father and his father was leading him on, or if his father had suborned them after Lex had found them. Dr. Hamilton, for example - Lex had thought the scientist was his find... but then just recently he heard his father listening to notes dictated by Hamilton that Lex himself didn't have. Now Lex wondered about any and all information he'd gotten from the man before he'd died.

And then there was Clark. Lex had somehow gotten himself into a Catch-22 situation with Clark. Lex's investigations into the meteor rocks regularly damaged his relationship with Clark, but every time Lex tried to leave Clark out of the investigation, Clark managed to put himself right back into the spotlight. There was no simple way to tell people working for you 'leave the Kents out of it' and not arouse their interest - or their frustration. Lex wanted Clark's friendship... but he also wanted to know about the rocks. If only he could figure out Clark's connection with the meteors, then Lex could concentrate his research only on the areas that didn't involve Clark. Maybe. But that too was a tricky path to navigate and Lex rather suspected he was tripping over mines he didn't even know were there.

Yet Lex's interest in the rocks, while obsessive, was nothing compared to his father's. When Lex had thought his father was safely ignoring him in Metropolis, Lex had gone a little wild in his freedom. A second life after his near drowning, without the clubs or the drugs, and Lex decided he was going to turn himself into a normal person with hobbies and friends and become an expert manager of the plant. Lex should have known better. His father still kept as close an eye on him as ever, and the mysteries that Lex had uncovered were also revealed to Lionel. Clark among them. 

The safest thing would be for Lex to cut all ties with Clark and to try and deflect his father's interest elsewhere; yet Lex feared it was entirely too late for that. His father's interest was well and truly caught, though he was keeping it low-key so far. And Lex also admitted he was too selfish; he couldn't give Clark up. The way Clark's very presence brightened up the area, the ready smiles and the easy conversation... it was an addiction. Even when Clark was angry or suspicious, Lex couldn't help but want to do anything in his power to appease Clark; to return to his friend's good graces. And that too was something his father saw.

With a sigh, Lex turned from his tangled thoughts to watching his father. After giving orders to people who knew full well what their jobs were, Lionel had returned to the living room where he gave further orders for scientists and machinery to be brought out to the mansion. Sitting in Lex's chair and using Lex's phone while he did it. The only thing that had really been interesting was the rather extensive list of scientists from different companies that Lionel had on call. And when he told them to come in at different times, Lex also knew that the scientists didn't know about each other. Lionel was going to be playing a bit of a shell game in the next few days to keep all his people from seeing each other.

"Do you really care, or is it just another mystery to you?" Lex asked softly, knowing he couldn't be heard. He had heard what his father had told Clark... and he didn't know if he believed it. It was certainly true that never once had he been beaten by his father, no matter how mad Lionel got. It was also true that Lex's mother was not the paragon he liked to describe to Clark. But love? Lex might have believed it more if Lionel hadn't been trying to get something out of Clark. Tell people what they want to hear, and then stab them in the back.

Lex walked to the pool table and ran his right hand through the balls that had been racked and ready for a game. Idly, he drifted his hand back and forth, watching his fingers appear and disappear. Moving back, he wound up with his left hand and tossed the meteor rock at the pool table. And then stared open-mouthed as it actually left his hand. The balls broke apart and the rock appeared back in his hand.

"Who is there?" Lionel's voice was sharp as he got up and walked to the pool table. Frowning, he looked down at the balls scattered across the felt.

"Ugh." Lex moved to one side where he wasn't standing in his father's shadow - or more to the point, inside his father. He waited until Lionel turned away, and then Lex tossed the rock at the pool table again. Or tried to, because this time it didn't budge. 

Lex shook his hand a few times, trying to dislodge the rock without any success. "Stupid meteors." 

As a pang of dizziness swept through him, Lex stopped shaking his hand and reached out for something to support him. But everything was insubstantial and drifting through his fingers, like dust... dust upon the wind. Lex thought he could hear music but that was probably his imagination for wandering thoughts. Pain replaced the dizziness and Lex fell to his knees, looking down. The wound was bleeding. Blood drops were falling and splattering on the floor. Low velocity spatter, passive spatter, drops about 1/3 of an inch, that hit the ground and splashed as Lex watched. Lex held his hand to stanch the bleeding only to see the blood fall through his hand and down to the floor again. It hurt. And his stomach churned so badly...

There was a sudden jerk and Lex felt himself pulled to one side, sliding along the floor. Then a pause and another jerk and he went *though* the wall into the hallway. Lex coughed, gagging from the pain. Blood spattered in an arc around him. Lex curled up around himself.

A piercing scream pulled his attention from his pain, and Lex blearily looked to see the housekeeper's assistant staring down at him. "Sandra," Lex choked, holding his hand out to her. She didn't see him, staring instead at the blood all around him. 

Lex felt himself starting to slide again, but then it stopped. And the pain stopped too. The sudden absence of pain was almost as much of a shock as it had been when it started. Lex lay on the floor and breathed, trying to get his vision and senses back.

"Are you okay?!"

Lex tried to respond to Clark's question, rolling over and looking up. 

But Clark wasn't asking him, he was asking Sandra, who was shaking in fear, her eyes wide and horrified. Clark's gaze followed hers and he gasped. With a quick stride, Clark reached the blood-stained area and he knelt down, reaching a hand out without directly touching the blood. "Lex," he whispered.

"Clark..." Lex didn't bother trying to scoot out from where Clark knelt in the middle of his body. It actually felt somewhat reassuring to be that close to his friend, even if Clark didn't know it. Clark's knee was in the middle of his legs, and his hand went right through the middle of Lex's chest. Lex looked down at himself and Clark and sighed.

"What is going on here!?" Lionel's bellow echoed down the hallway. "You, girl - what happened? What's your name?"

"Sandra," Lex and Clark muttered as one. Lex went on by himself, "Her name is Sandra. Gods, Dad. People like you are why people like Jeff go on invisible murderous rampages."

"I was just on my way to the kitchen," Sandra waved her hand at the tray and dishes on the floor where they'd fallen, "when..." her voice trembled, "it just..." She gulped, her hands coming together to cling tightly to each other. "The... the blood just appeared. It spattered against the wall and the floor and it just..." She raised her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide and scared.

Clark made a motion to go to her but stilled as Mrs. Tuppet came forward to hold Sandra, keeping Lionel and the security guards at bay.

Lex sat up and touched where Clark's shoulder was. His fingers slipped through Clark's shirt, but he curved his hand as if he was holding Clark. Then Clark shifted and Lex's hand appeared on the other side. With a sigh, Lex dropped his hand and stared at it. There was blood all over his hand, dried brown and fresh red, stained and streaked, caking in the fingernails. He looked at his other hand, still holding a chunk of green stone. 

"And you, Mr. Kent," Lionel finished up with a glare through his glasses, "I want to see you in my office."

Running the last few minutes back through his mind, Lex realized that while he'd been staring at Clark, Lionel had been issuing orders for basic forensics and to take samples of the blood and for everybody else to get back to work and stop jawing. 

"Great winning attitude, Dad."

Following Clark and Lionel back into the study, Lex winced involuntarily as his dad slammed the door right through him. Even Clark jumped a bit at the loud bang.

"I thought I told you to go home!" Lionel raged at Clark.

Lex could have told his father that was a mistake.

Clark stiffened, his hunched-over submissive posture turning into confidence and surety. "Lex is missing. I won't desert my friend." The green eyes flashed a warning against anybody who would even think he could.

Turning to get a drink, Lionel missed it. "There is nothing you can do here; you can only get in the way."

"In the way of who?" Clark asked scornfully. "All your people are in the library, and now the hall. All they're doing are looking at things and taking samples."

With his drink half-way to his lips, Lionel paused before resuming the movement and sipping lightly. "And where, then, were you, my young friend?"

Lex's lips curved into a snarl at his father's voice. Lionel was turning curious and was bringing out the Luthor charm. Instinctively, he stepped between the two, but neither of them saw him.

Luckily, Clark was still annoyed from earlier and didn't respond to Lionel's new tactic. He replied as he always did - honestly. Waving a hand at the inner wall, Clark explained, "I was searching the castle. You said it might have been teleportation... so I was looking for Lex."

Both Lionel and Lex's eyebrows rose in unison. Lex turned to his father, "Yeah, Dad - why didn't *you* think of that?"

"And did you find him?" Lionel was playing his emotions close to his chest, not revealing anything after that one note of surprise.

"No," Clark seemed to deflate on the instant, all his poise and confidence disappearing. "I've been through everything - the solarium, Lex's room, the gym, the armory... I had just finished looking through the garage when Sandra screamed."

"The garage?" Lionel's mouth pursed.

Lex drew a startled breath in. The garage was on the opposite side of the manor from the study. Yet Clark had been the first on the scene, almost before Sandra had finished screaming.

Clark's eyes widened and he quickly re-tracked, "I was on my way back from the garage! I was going to start with the outside next and was heading to the front door."

"Keep the lie simple, Clark," Lex advised. It wasn't actually all that bad, as far as the reasoning went, but what the boy really needed to learn was to tell his lies without the obvious physical panic that accompanied them. 

"Indeed," Lionel said thoughtfully, and didn't pursue it.

"The garage?" Lex suddenly glanced over at the pool table where he'd first been stricken. He walked over to it, looking at the blood-spatter on the dark wood of the floor. That would be a problem to get out of the varnish later. After the table... Lex looked around until he found the smear where he'd been dragged along, vanishing into the wall. Lex eyed the wall for a moment, then shrugged and stepped through. It was dark for a moment before his vision switched to seeing things in glowing lines and shapes, a pattern of support beams and concrete and wood until he came out on the other side and he again saw the hall in regular vision. The huddle of people around the most intense blood stain further along had led most of them to not see the drops below his feet, though some of the security were tracing it back now. And if the line kept going... it would be a crow's flight straight to the garage. Lex narrowed his eyes, watching the guards and thinking.

There was a crash from the study and voices raised loud enough to silence the babble of people in the hallway. All of them looked at each other and then at the door, none of them willing to go in on whatever was happening.

Lex rolled his eyes at his father's security guards and stepped back through the wall again.

"This is not your home!" Lionel was in the middle of yelling at Clark.

"Well, it's not yours either!" Clark yelled back. "It's Lex's!"

Lex looked at the shattered glass by the wall and concluded that it was his dad who had been throwing things.

"The deed is in my name, not my son's! This is my castle bought and paid for!"

Lex raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was the ancestral mansion, Dad." He had never believed that story.

"You live in Metropolis! *Lex* lives in Smallville, and this is his home!" Clark's chest was heaving, his eyes were sparking, and he was defending Lex against Lex's father. There really wasn't any doubt - Lex was in love.

Smiling bitterly at himself for the involuntary thought, Lex strode over to the couch and gingerly tried sitting on it. He sank down a bit further into the cushions than the surface, but he didn't actually fall through. It was a bit surprising, actually. Lex thought about it and realized that he was where he would be if the cushions had flattened under his weight. That what he was sitting on was probably not so much the couch itself as the sense-memory of the couch and his belief in it. Lex just hoped he didn't suddenly start disbelieving it. Then he turned his attention back to the show.

The two had stopped yelling, though they were still glaring. 

"I concede that my son lives here now," Lionel said tightly, "However, that does *not* give you the right to go through it without permission!"

Lex opened his mouth and then closed it again. Clark had said he'd been exploring the mansion. All of the mansion. Including Lex's bedroom. Lex flushed red, hoping that Clark hadn't seen the plaid shirt that he kept tucked away in the back of one of his drawers. Or, for that matter, the collection of Torch newspapers with all of Clark's articles carefully folded out. Or... Lex cleared his throat and forced his blush down. Clark would have been looking for a body, not minutia. And there hadn't been enough time for Clark to have lingered over any one area. For that matter... Lex glanced at the clock, wondering just how Clark had managed to search *all* of the castle in just an hour. The place wasn't exactly a two-bedroom house. 

"Lex wouldn't mind, especially if it was to save his life," Clark refused to back down.

True enough... but perhaps Lex had been a little too ‘my castle is your castle' in his attitude in the last year. Though other than the possible embarrassment factor, Lex couldn't really think of any other reason why Clark shouldn't be allowed free access. In fact, he rather liked the idea now that he realized he had apparently already given it. Clark knew Lex's home as well as he knew his own, and treated every one of Lex's employees like they were friends and family. Family didn't need permission. Well, other than Lex's wish that Lionel *would* ask permission before he barged in. But Clark was most definitely welcome, and welcome to all of it.

Clark turned to leave, and Lex realized he'd missed the last of the fight. From the look on his father's face, though, he thought that Clark might have won. And that made him worried for Clark. His father did not like to lose.

As the doors closed behind Clark, Lex jumped to his feet and hurried after him. "Clark, wait up - I'm coming with you!" 

Not surprisingly, Clark didn't slow down, and a six-foot-tall hunky farmer at full stride was something that Lex was hard-pressed to keep up with without running. Clark went out the front door with hardly a pause and finally came to a stop in the middle of the walkway. He was breathing hard, his face flushed and his eyes flashing. _Magnificent_ , Lex thought.

With a look around, Clark headed off at a slightly slower pace to the gardens. Obviously he was planning on searching the outside like he had the inside. 

"Hey, Clark," Lex said as they walked. "You know, you're my best friend. And I'm trying as hard as I can to be yours too, even if I sometimes mess up. But could you please not get yourself killed by my father?"

Also not surprisingly, Clark didn't answer. Lex sighed and kept walking. 

Along the way, Clark kept looking around, intently gazing and then dismissing whole swathes of area. Lex wondered what Clark was using as criteria. It wasn't like they could actually see if anybody was there. Lex knew that he wasn't there, but how did Clark?

Or... was Lex there? Was Lex's body somewhere else other then where he was? Was he just a mirage? A fragment of consciousness spun off as his body was killed? Was Lex just a ghost? But if that was the case, where was his body? If Lex was dead, wouldn't his body still have been in the library?

Intent on his thoughts, Lex almost missed it when Clark came to a stop and looked around. It was a different sort of looking than he'd been doing before -more furtive, checking to see who was near. When apparently he was satisfied that nobody was around, Clark started to run, then he disappeared.

Lex had a few seconds to blink at the spot Clark had been before the pain was back.

The meteor rock fell out of his hand as Lex clutched his abdomen. The bullet had gone through him, tearing his insides apart. He coughed, blood coming up from his stomach, forcing through his throat and out of his mouth. The world was spinning around him. 

There was a yank and Lex was thrown to the ground. He yelped as the pain from the wound was temporarily overwhelmed by the asphalt dragging over his abraded skin. 

Then the pull changed direction. Lex curled up around himself, his stomach full of blood protesting as he cried out. He felt himself batted around like one of his pool balls on the table, bouncing off bushes and statuary, scraped across the ground without direction. He couldn't even track the different pulls, his body one giant flame, burning up. He fought to breathe amid his coughing.

Finally, it stopped. Slowly, Lex uncurled, rolling onto his back, looking up at the blue expanse. There were some white clouds drifting by. One of them resembled a fish, winding sinuously through the sky. It shifted even as he watched, edges pulling out, neck raising, until it was more like a horse, emerging from the sea.

"That really, really hurt," Lex addressed the clouds. 

It didn't hurt anymore, but Lex just didn't feel like moving yet. He lay on soft clouds, looking up into the sky, pain-free, and wondered when he'd stopped flying. A year ago, he had flown. Now he lay below and watched the clouds, not free to join them in their path across the world.

A low sobbing breath pulled Lex's attention from himself and the clouds and he sat up. The meteor rock rolled off his chest as he did so, and Lex automatically grabbed it. Then he paused and looked at it, studying his hand - his left hand - holding it. He brought up his right and flexed the fingers a few times just to see if he could. And then he forgot about the rock as he heard Clark whisper his name.

Standing up, Lex looked around. They were out near the pond. Which was, if not exactly on the opposite side from where they had been, a long ways away. Clark was about fifteen feet away, sitting on a flat rock right up against the water. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his head rested despondently down. Even this far away, Lex could hear the gasps of breath that weren't quite sobs but were of somebody close to the edge of it. 

"Clark, it's okay." Lex walked over to his younger friend and crouched helplessly next to him. Lex had never been very good at comfort anyhow, and being insubstantial didn't help. Reaching out, he awkwardly tried to pat Clark's shoulder, his hands drifting through Clark's body as if Lex was petting air. Clark didn't react at all, huddled within himself and his sorrow. 

Shifting, Clark looked up at Lex's chest, his green eyes dark and brimming. 

Being stared through was something that the polite society and corporate world excelled at doing to people they didn't want to acknowledge. Being *actually* stared through was just weird. Lex glanced behind himself, seeing the expanse of water that Clark was looking at.

"I can't lose him too," Clark said. "Not Lex. Please not Lex."

Lex turned back, trying to put his arms around Clark. He went through and came back, hugging himself instead. With a sigh, he sank down, kneeling before Clark, reaching out to him. "Clark, you won't lose me. I promise." The meteor rock he was holding suddenly seemed like the worst lie ever. Lex put it down on the ground, slightly surprised when it actually left his hand. He tried the hold again, careful not to hug too tightly, imagining there was something fragile and precious within his arms. Clark's friendship was the most precious thing he'd ever been given, and he was always afraid of breaking it. "Clark," he said again, hopelessly.

Clark dropped his head back down and started crying in earnest.

It wrung Lex's heart. It hadn't been that long since Ryan had died, and Clark had been trying through all of that to keep strong for his younger friend. Lex's disappearance couldn't have come at a worse time. Though Lex supposed there wasn't any really good time. He just wished Clark knew he was here.

Eventually, Clark's tears dried up. He gulped and swiped his hand over his face, bringing his arm through Lex's body.

Lex sat back, still feeling helpless. And the damn meteor rock was back in his hand. He hated that thing. 

Clark unfolded his body, coming out of his curl but still sitting on the rock. He looked out over the pond. "Last year, I taught you how to skip stones here."

Lex's mouth curved up; he remembered that. He'd been practicing all summer when he could get away, just so he wouldn't disappoint Clark the next time it came up.

"This year... We haven't had a chance to get out here yet this year." Clark's voice was rough with all the emotion. "This was supposed to be our day, Lex. But I don't even know if you're alive."

Before Lex could say or do anything, Clark brought his fist down. The rock cracked, sending slices flying. Lex instinctively brought up his hands, but the pieces flew right through him.

"Ouch!" Clark looked at his hand in amazement, at the bloody streaks where his knuckles had been skinned.

Wide-eyed, Lex registered the surprise in Clark's voice, but his attention was focused on the cracked rock. It was completely shattered, as if a sledge hammer had been the focal point of the impact instead of Clark's hand. He'd known for a long time that Clark was stronger than normal, but this... Lex looked at Clark. "Wow."

Clark wasn't paying any attention. He was walking away from the pond, back towards the castle. Only a short distance away, though, he stopped and dropped to his knees, reaching out to the air.

Curious, Lex went forward. "Oh." 

With a sort of fatal resignation, Lex tried to impartially evaluate the ground where he'd been lying. What would Clark see in it? This was more than just a few splatters and drops - it was an actual pool, absorbed into the ground on the edges, puddled and still liquid in the center, clotted around the edges. There were a few drag marks on the edge and drops further out, but it was the wide swath of red that caught the attention. It was there that Clark was kneeling, one hand on the ground, the other clenched in a tight fist.

Lex placed his hand on his abdomen, feeling the hole in his skin. The back of his shirt was clammy and wet. Right now, he was breathing okay, but remembered vividly the feeling of choking on blood coming up. 

He remembered only vaguely the feel of the bullet tearing through him. At the time, he'd been focused on Clark. He'd been concentrating on the meteor rock when he heard the sound of a gun. He had looked up to see Clark collapsing in front of him, his hand outstretched and a look of pain and horror on his face. Lex had thought Clark had been shot. His heart had been in his throat. And then he found out that he was the one shot and that nobody could see or hear him and he couldn't touch anybody. Twilight Zone territory.

Clark reached out and touched his fingers to the pool. "Lex, where *are* you? What is happening to you? God, Lex." Clark's words dissolved into another choked sob.

This was the worst part of it all. Seeing Clark hurting and not being able to do anything about it. Instead of going to him, Lex turned and walked away. There were only so many times one could put their hands through a person before it got frustrating. Lex didn't even normally touch people, but he was trying in any way he could to reach out to. But Clark didn't know he was there.

On the other side of the trees, Lex stopped. "Well, that's one answer." There were more bloodstains further on. Not a pool, more like what had happened in the castle, with splatter and some smearing. There was a huge gap between the set Clark was at and this group - no drops or trails between, though each did have some directional marks of their own. However, they weren't the same direction. Lex went out further, looking for the next set. He finally found it off to a different side, even farther out. 

As he started to walk out to it, he started feeling dizzy and his gut hurt. Lex stopped and looked down at himself. His hand over the meteor rock was swollen, the veins standing out.

Lex hurriedly backed away until he was feeling better. Then he turned and walked back to Clark. About 30 feet as the crow flew, though the garage was further out from the study than that. The bloodstains collaborated his hypothesis, though. If Clark had been ranging out in a search pattern, a zig-zag fashion, and if Lex was yanked along in his wake whenever he got too far away, the stains wouldn't be in a straight line. Lex wasn't sure why there were the large gaps between, but he hoped he wouldn't have too many occasions to test it.

"Oh no," Lex said as he got back to the pond only to see Clark starting to run towards the castle. Within a blink, Clark had blurred out of sight. "Fuck," Lex said more emphatically as he put his arms up to protect himself. A moment later, the pain was back.

... ... ... 

 

 _My hand is bleeding._ Clark looked at his skinned knuckles in amazement, watching as he healed over. There was something weird going on. _Of course there's something weird - my best friend has disappeared_. Instantly, he forgot about his hand and fell back into depression. The search through the mansion and the surroundings had been a complete waste of time. Sitting on the rock crying had been even more of a waste of time. Clark should be out there looking somewhere else. Maybe the Talon, or the Luthor Plant, places were Lex spent his time and might go to. Teleportation... But if he'd appeared anywhere there, he'd still be wounded and hurt. The Talon wouldn't be bad, somebody could get Lex to a hospital quickly. But the Plant was closed on the weekend, nobody around - Lex could bleed out before anybody got to him. Clark should check the Plant.

Starting to walk back, Clark hauled himself up short when he saw a small puddle of blood on the ground. _That wasn't there before_. He was sure it hadn't been. No, it definitely wasn't. Clark knelt down to examine it, frustration welling up in him. _Lex..._

It may not be Lex's blood - maybe a hawk had gotten a bird and then swooped off with the body. But there were no feathers around, no fur, no signs of anything except the blood. Clark knew what an animal kill looked like, and this wasn't it. 

Clark reached out and touched his fingers to the blood, knowing as he did so that it was Lex's. It couldn't be anything else. But his fingers found nothing in the air except the blood. His x-ray vision showed nothing anywhere around. "Lex, where *are* you? What is happening to you?" 

This really wasn't anything like an invisible Jeff. Not only could Clark not see Lex anywhere, but the blood was just wrong. Clark was very familiar with death and blood; growing up on a farm made those things matter-of-fact. And this blood was just weird. It looked like something above the ground had been dripping blood down until it pooled up. There were a few drops off to the side, and a little bit of smearing further from that, but the most remarkable thing about the smearing was that there wasn't more of it. There was nothing to indicate what was bleeding at all. No footprints, no imprints in the ground, just the blood. 

Was Lex trying to get to him? Was he trapped somewhere and reaching out, getting partway through wherever he was trapped but not able to make it the rest of the way? Clark shuddered at the thought. Lex shot was bad enough. Lex vanished while shot was horrifying. Lex trapped in an alternate dimension with demons after him and helpless was the stuff of nightmares.

He had only known Lex for a bit more than a year, but already Lex had become one of the most important people in his life. When Lex had gone back to Metropolis for the summer, Clark had been disappointed. He wouldn't have been at school, and there would have been all this time he could have spent with Lex. But Lex's father had been hurt in the tornado and Lex's duty was clear. So then Clark looked forward to summer's end when Lionel could take over the business again and Lex could come back to Smallville. Yet when Lex finally showed up, he had a wife in tow. Well, fiancée. One that Clark had just been salivating over himself. But all Clark could think was that Lex was lost to him.

Clark would give anything to have that day back again. Back then, he didn't know what losing Lex really was. 

Standing up, Clark looked at his fingers, tinged red with Lex's blood. Probably Lex's blood. Clark didn't know if he hoped it was Lex's blood or not. 

"Why couldn't my next power have been time shifting?" If Clark could just go back... if he'd gotten into the library sooner, if he'd thought of going after Lex instead of the bullet, if he'd done *something* other than failing....

But he was wasting time. Clark didn't know what he could do, but standing here wasn't doing it. He glanced between the pond and the blood, and then headed towards the castle.

As he ran, he started off okay, but then started feeling short of breath and there was a hint of a stitch in his side. It was like he was fighting against a headwind. Earlier, when he was running through the castle grounds, he'd been feeling the same thing. Ever since Lex had disappeared, every time he tried to use a power, something went wrong. He still could *do* everything, but he was being hurt as he did it.

At the castle, Clark stopped back in the garden where nobody could see him and then he walked the rest of the way. He came to an abrupt halt as he saw more blood stains on the cement. These were older, stained and dry, droplets, slightly smeared on one edge. They hadn't been there when he left earlier.

With a gulp, he went back inside the castle and slipped around to the study. Inside, there was a small horde of researchers there. Clark hovered at the door, not wanting to get in the middle of that; researchers scared him.

"And young Mr. Kent, back again," Lionel sarcastically remarked from behind him.

Clark jumped, turning to face the dark glasses with the hidden mind behind them.

"Did you search all of the outside grounds?"

Opening his mouth to answer ‘yes', Clark abruptly shut it again. Even with the amount of time he'd spend out by the pond, he didn't think a normal person would have been able to cover all the territory he'd been able to search with his speed and x-ray vision. "Uh, no. I came back because out at the pond there was a..." Clark's voice froze on the words. He raised his hand and stared at the blood starting to flake off his fingers yet leaving stains behind. "Blood." Clark closed his eyes, remembering it.

"We have some here, too," Lionel sounded grim. He gestured behind Clark into the room. "Over by the pool table."

Clark turned to look, automatically using his x-ray vision to check. Before he stared too long, he remembered to turn back. There wasn't all that much to see anyhow - more splatters and drops and researchers crowded around it. They were also dusting and running odd instruments over the pool balls.

"There's also some out on the patio, just into the gardens," Clark remembered. He shivered. "I keep thinking of Lex trapped in some dimensional warp, with demons behind him and he's fighting to get out, to get back to us, but he's not able to get through; he's trapped half-way through the door, bleeding into our world, with the devil behind him."

Lionel took off his glasses and stared at Clark in astonishment before he remembered and put the dark glasses back on. "Young man, you've been watching too many horror movies."

"But you said---"

"Clark," Lionel's voice was gentler than Clark had ever heard it before, "I think you should go home." 

As Clark started to protest, Lionel held up a hand, "Hear me out." He gestured Clark back and they moved further into the hall, away from the chaos. 

The silence stretched and Clark started to fidget.

Lionel sighed. "Clark, I don't deny you've been very useful to us in the past. You're quite the local hero. But this is not like a kidnapping or a story about the latest robbery. You just watched your friend get shot. Lex is missing, but you can't just run around and find him. You're feeling hopeless and confused right now." Lionel looked out and away, his face reflecting some of the same emotions, quickly hidden. "Clark, you have parents whom you can be with right now. Go home to them. I promise I'll call if anything changes here or if Lex comes back."

"But Lex could be anywhere - we need to find him!"

"We're working on it. I've alerted the local sheriff, the plant manager, the Talon. I've hired security guards around Smallville and also in Metropolis just in case. We have teams of people scouring this place. The scientists are doing all they can to figure out what happened." Lionel paused and then shook his head. "Clark, if we find anything, I will call. Luthors don't break their promises."

Clark had been just about ready to give in, but that last one raised his hackles and his eyebrows. Between his dad and the Rosses and Lex himself telling him all about LuthorCorp dealings, just hearing something like that made him wince. He had to wonder, though, if that's what Lionel had always taught Lex. Maybe Lex was different than his father because of his father. Lex had believed his dad about there being no Level 3, up until the point where they'd found it. What else did Lex do because he believed Luthors didn't break promises? Not that Lex himself trusted his dad anymore, but it was the thought that was there that made Lex sincere in a way his dad never had been.

Suddenly, Clark really wanted to be with his parents. To feel their arms around him warm and comforting, knowing he was loved and accepted. The comforts that Lex never had. With a sigh, Clark capitulated. He looked up at Lionel with a gulp. "Okay. Okay, but...." He trailed off, not able to put it into words.

Lionel's voice went all gentle again. "As soon as we find anything, I'll call."

... ... ... 

 

As the old red truck pulled into the drive, Jonathan straightened up from where he was nailing a new roof onto the hen house. Clark wasn't supposed to be back for another hour at the earliest. Jonathan climbed down from the ladder and was stripping off his gloves when Clark got out of the truck. Instantly, Jonathan knew something had gone horribly wrong. The woe-begotten look on his son's face was one thing, but everything else, his posture, the way he moved getting out of the truck, screamed something bad.

Jonathan quickly left the coop, automatically closing the gate behind him, and hurried to his son. "Clark," he put his hands on Clark's shoulders, "What's wrong?"

Clark moved into his father's embrace, holding him like he hadn't done in years, shivering slightly. "Dad..." his voice cracked.

"Martha!" Jonathan shouted in the general direction of the house, even as he folded his arms around his son, trying to protect him as if he was a child again, reassuring him that no matter what, his parents were here and loved him.

With a little sob, Clark buried his face in his dad's shoulder.

Jonathan was beyond worried now, frantic for his son. But what Clark seemed to need right now was just his support, so he gave it as best he could. 

Running out of the house, Martha skidded to a stop beside them and then joined herself to the hug. "Clark, honey. It's okay, we're here. We're here, Clark."

With another sob, Clark shifted until he had his arms around both of them.

Knowing where Clark had been planning to go, Jonathan knew that whatever was wrong, it involved Lex Luthor. The only question was whether it was something that Luthor had done, or if it was something that had happened to him. "Clark, what happened?" he asked again.

"Lex," Clark sobbed out. "Lex was shot."

Something that had happened to him. Jonathan closed his eyes and held his son tighter. He may not have always approved of Lex, or the direction his son's relationship was going with the young aristocrat, but Jonathan hadn't wanted to see him hurt. The pain Clark was going through right now was something he would have spared him if he could. And Lex's death, coming on top of Ryan's last month... Jonathan held his son close.

"How is he?" Martha asked.

"I don't know!" 

Jonathan's eyes popped open at the question and answer. Lex wasn't dead? "We'll get our coats and go to the hospital. We can wait there for the results."

"He's not at the hospital."

Pulling slightly back, Jonathan looked down until he met his wife's puzzled gaze. At least he wasn't the only one confused. 

"Did Lionel have a doctor come in?" Martha asked the next logical question.

"No. He," Clark pulled away, stopping what he was saying with a frustrated sigh. "Okay, this is going to sound weird, but Lex vanished. When he was shot, he just disappeared, and we can't find him anywhere." Clark's voice started to tremble again.

Jonathan tilted his head to one side. There wasn't that much that sounded weird to him anymore, though he preferred to look for mundane answers first. "How about if you tell us what happened from the start?"

"Only with more detail than I gave Lionel?" Clark managed a shaky grin and took a step back, disentangling himself from the hug, while still leaving his arms around his parents.

Carefully, Jonathan left his own arm around Clark. Whatever had happened, it had shaken Clark to his bones. 

"I got to the castle - and Mom, Lex had canceled his date."

Jonathan almost rolled his eyes. In the midst of all the pain, that sentence had come out sounding smug and triumphant. Teenage hormones conquered all. If only it wasn't Lex Luthor!

"I went to the library, and it's such a maze there, I used my x-ray vision to check for Lex and I saw another guy there with a gun. Well, I saw the void of the gun against the bones, and it wasn't Lex. I know Lex's bones. Lex was by the desk; this guy was over by the wall, from behind a shelf, and he had the gun raised.

"I ran forward just as he shot at Lex, and I almost had it; I almost had the bullet... I could see it there, another step and I could have grabbed it. But Lex was holding a meteor rock and when I got close, all my powers disappeared. I was there. I was almost there! I hate that meteor rock. I was curled up in pain from the meteor, reaching for Lex, and Lex was reaching for me. 

"But then the bullet hit Lex. I saw it. I saw it hit him. There was a hole in his shirt, blood seeping around it. And then Lex vanished. He and the rock, just gone. Poof."

Jonathan swallowed, hard. His instinct was to worry about Clark using his powers in front of Lex, but he wasn't very well going to say that Clark should have let Lex get shot instead. Except that that's what had happened, despite everything Clark did. "Did the shooter see...?"

"Dad!" Clark pulled out of his father's embrace. "Geeze. The shooter was looking at Lex. He probably saw me collapse on the desk, but he was more freaked out by Lex vanishing. *I* was freaked out by Lex vanishing. Lex was shot, and now he's gone, and we don't know where he is or how bad he is and I can't find him *anywhere*." The last bit trailed off on a plaintive worried note. He turned from his parents to look across the landscape in the direction of the castle.

Martha and Jonathan exchanged another look. Honestly, the only reason Clark wasn't aware of his feelings for Lex was because he wasn't used to thinking of guys like that. At least Jonathan didn't *think* he was aware of them yet. Lex certainly was, though he did a fairly good job of reining it in. Sometimes.

"You said he had a meteor rock..."

"Yeah." Clark turned back to them, his face crumpled in upon itself. "If only I'd seen that before! I was x-raying the room, how come I didn't see it? I could have done something different. I could have gone after Lex instead of the bullet - knocked him out of the way. I could have used my heat-vision on the bullet instead---"

"Oh no, honey; I don't think that would have been a good idea," Martha interrupted him, her eyes wide.

Jonathan stirred - he liked it. Heat vision would be a lot less obvious than Clark's usual flamboyant rescues.

Martha shot him a quelling glance before returning her attention to her son. "Your heat vision is so new! You've only had it for a few months. What if you missed?"

Clark blinked. "Huh?"

"If the bullet was heading towards Lex, and you missed the bullet - you might hit Lex instead! Or something behind it, and the bullet would still hit him."

"But I've done it before!"

Martha and Jonathan looked at each other again, then back at Clark. Jonathan raised his eyebrows.

Clark flushed. "It was when you, Dad, were, ah..." he faltered. "When you were shooting at Lex. When Desiree..." Clark trailed off. 

Jonathan grimaced. He really hated to be reminded of that. Even twenty-two years later, Martha was the love of his life. Meteor mutation or no meteor mutation, he felt like he'd failed Martha by succumbing to Desiree's spell.

"I caught one bullet and melted the other, and I was moving for that, so I can do it." Clark winced, "I just didn't think of it for this time. When it would have saved Lex."

"Or you might have hurt him. Just because it worked once doesn't mean you'll always be able to do it. No, honey, you did the right thing, and I'm just not comfortable with your using the heat vision like that."

"We'll practice," Jonathan said, clapping his son on the shoulder. "We'll take the shot gun out behind the barn and practice until it's instinctive. Just like all the others."

Clark started to perk up and then fell again. "That's not going to bring Lex back." 

Jonathan sighed. "Come inside, Clark. You can tell us the rest of it, and we'll figure out what to do."

They walked together to the house, quiet in their own thoughts. At the front door, Clark turned to look at the barn, frowning. Then he turned and went inside.

As the door shut behind them, the horses whinnied in terror. They could hear the boards banging with the force of the horses' hooves.

Clark didn't wait to be told - he ran with a blur to the barn. Jonathan hurried after him, only pausing to grab the shotgun off the wall as he headed out.

Inside the barn, there was nothing immediately obvious. Everything was in place. The horses were calming down, turning around in their stalls and whuffling loudly but no longer distressed. There was nobody around. Clark was standing by the stairs, his back to his father.

Jonathan walked to Clark, still alert in case anything happened. "Clark?"

Clark moved to one side, revealing the blood-spattered railing and steps. 

... ... ... 

 

"X-ray vision?" Lex's eyebrows about climbed off his face. Okay, the strength and the speed weren't any surprise, not really. But X-ray vision? That was something out of a Warrior Angel comic!

"Oh..." Lex frowned. He hadn't actually known that the meteor rocks were the thing that hurt Clark. He'd known something hurt Clark and took away his powers, but the rocks didn't hurt anybody else - well, not that directly anyhow. Suddenly, a lot of little things that had never made sense clicked into place.

"Oh shit." At Jonathan's instant worry over the shooter seeing Clark, Lex suddenly realized just how much of their distrust of him was based on Clark's secrets. He'd always thought that it was him. But it was much more about Clark and his abilities. Things that Lex had seen in front of his own eyes. Secrets that he was currently eavesdropping on. "Clark is going to kill me."

No, not kill. Clark wouldn't kill. Instead, Clark would *look* at him. He would look with those wide, expressive eyes of his showing everything; everything that was Lex's doom. Clark was going to crumple up within himself, his disappointment and fear of Lex battling for supremacy. One of those was going to win, and whichever it was, Lex was going to lose. Clark was never going to trust him ever again. Never again to see one of Clark's happy smiles, his green eyes lighting up at something Lex said, his earnestness in teenage angst, his trust in Lex's wisdom. Never again to learn from Clark about what real friendship was, what true happiness was, what honesty was.

Lex barely absorbed the reveal of another power, though he did blink at the ‘recently acquired'. It didn't matter anymore, though. When Clark found out, nothing would matter at all.

They were still talking, but Lex wasn't listening anymore. Blindly, he turned and walked towards the barn. Lex had always wanted to know Clark's secrets. He'd never given a thought as to what would happen when he found them.

Inside the barn, he rested against the doorway, not even giving a thought to substantial or insubstantial, lost in his thoughts. Clark's family prized honesty, though they themselves lied. Their lies, however, were based on fear and a need to protect Clark. Lying for anything else, for business gain, for scientific gain, for curiosity... that was reprehensible. Logically, Lex could understand that, but it wasn't what he'd been taught.

Contrary to what the Kents believed, Lex hadn't actually grown up in a house of lies. Yet business was very much about carefully selected truths. On a personal level, Lex had encountered more lies and deception from those who would be his friend than he ever had from his father. He was tired, so tired, of people who wanted to know him just for what he could give them. In his teens, he'd stopped rebelling against it and went with it instead. His wild days of drugs and clubs and never-ending sex weren't a ‘rebellion' against his father, but a giving-in to the world of his peers. It wasn't any better. 

Finding Clark in Smallville had been something of a small miracle; somebody who would be his friend without wanting anything from him. It wasn't like he'd expected honesty from Clark originally - it was the friendship he prized. Somewhere along the line, he'd forgotten about that and had thought he was entitled to everything about Clark. Or, more likely, substituted wanting Clark's body for wanting Clark's secrets, somehow thinking that was safer. Lex laughed sourly at himself.

Lex pushed himself off the door-frame and wandered into the barn, breathing in the rich smells of straw, hay, horses, and machinery. He walked over to his favorite of the Kent horses and over the stable half-door offered the flat of his hand to Dusty. The dappled bay whuffled at him and lowered his head to blow on Lex's hand.

"You can see me?" Lex blinked. He reached out to pet the horse and his hand, of course, went right through it. Dusty whinnied and tossed his head, backing into the stall uneasily.

"Okay, so animals have better senses than humans." At least for incorporeal beings. Ghosts. Lex grinned sourly to himself. It was only a few days until Halloween - this was a very timely haunting. 

At least he wouldn't have to worry about what to wear for the day. Clark had been teasing him about an Alexander the Great outfit. Or a Warrior Angel. Lex wished he'd met Clark years ago when he would have been young enough to do something like that. Of course, if he'd been younger than Clark would have been younger as well, and Lex wouldn't have fallen in love with his best friend. That, however, might have been better for their friendship; fewer lies, less caution. Though Clark would still have his secrets.

Lex sighed and walked towards the loft. Clark was never going to forgive him. He'd eavesdropped shamelessly and learned his secrets through deception and betrayal. Lex hadn't *meant* to do all that, but he'd still done it. And worse, his father was after the same. The Kents were right to hate and fear the Luthor name.

At the stairwell, Lex tried to step up and his foot went through the steps. As Lex was blinking at the effect, he felt detached, weirdly absent from his body, dizzy without actually having motion around him. He put out his hand to grab the rail and watched the veins on his arm and hand bulge out, turning an odd sickly green color. He coughed, the blood in his stomach nauseating and roiling. Blood spattered over the railing that he couldn't hold. Lex dropped to his knees, trying not to give in to the pain.

The horses whinnied in terror, lashing out in their stalls. They could probably smell the blood. Lex closed his eyes.

"Clark?" Jonathan's voice echoed through the barn.

Lex opened his eyes. There was something off about his vision... no, it was just that there was a body in his head. Having Clark standing inside of him was very disconcerting yet also oddly reassuring at the same time. His vision was flipping between normal sight and the weird glowy vision he got when between walls. It was making Lex dizzy in a different way than before.

At Jonathan's call, Clark stepped to one side and out of Lex. Lex sighed in relief, than blushed as he realized that with him kneeling and Clark standing his head was about... No. His thoughts were *not* going there. Not about his young, innocent friend, they weren't. Lex quickly stood up, swaying just a bit as he caught his balance. He reached out and grabbed the rail to steady himself.

"I hadn't gotten to tell you that part yet," Clark said grimly. "This was happening too, back at the castle."

Jonathan moved up alongside Clark, tucking the shotgun under one arm and reaching out with the other. He touched the spatter and brought his fingers up to his nose. "Blood." He glanced around, frowning.

"No, there's nothing and nobody here. There never is. At the castle, Sandra actually saw it appear out of nowhere." Clark's voice was determinedly not trembling, though it wanted to. "I think Lex is trapped somewhere, hurt and bleeding and unable to get to us. But he's trying, and sometimes he's able to get a little bit through but then is thrown back, trapped in hell."

Jonathan blinked and Lex waited for the same sort of sarcastic remark his own father had made. 

"If that's happening, that means he's still alive and still fighting. If Lex is alive, there's hope." Jonathan started to put his hand on Clark's shoulder then remembered the blood on his fingers and stopped. "Son, it'll be okay. Lex will be okay. We'll find him, or somebody will find him." Jonathan surreptitiously wiped his hand on his pants and then clapped Clark on the shoulder. "He'll be okay."

Lex stared in surprise. Was this what normal fathers did? Reassure even against the odds? Lionel was always careful to tell Lex things exactly as they were, not to give false hope. He wouldn't have coddled Lex like that. 

As he watched a father/son bonding moment that he would never have, Lex felt envious... but at the same time, he knew it wasn't for him. He might have longed for somebody to say those words to him... but at their core, weren't they a lie too? If his dad had told him it would be okay when his mom was dying, and then she died - he wouldn't ever have trusted his dad again. Well, okay, he didn't trust him now. But that was different. Back then, Lionel had told him exactly what the odds of his mother surviving were and advised him to spend time with her. So of course Lex had spent the time looking for doctors to cure her instead and wasted their last moments. 

With a sigh, Lex admitted, once again, that the Kent method was probably superior. Jonathan had used logic for the first part, and the second was a future hope; it wasn't exactly a straight lie, and Clark looked the better for it. Determined again, ready to find Lex. 

"Thanks, Dad." Clark gave his dad a quick smile in acknowledgement. Though within the eyes was also an acknowledgement that it may not be okay after all.

So maybe it wasn't any sort of a lie - if Clark knew the truth, than it was just a... a what? A reassurance. A way to get Clark back on track. A hope.

Lex sighed again. He wasn't ever going to understand this family. They lived on hopes, and his world was reality. Reality had possibilities, yes, but hope was different and elusive. When he'd first been pulled out of the river, with his angel helping him to fly... that had been hope. But since then, reality came crashing back down time and again. It was only in green eyes that hope existed.

"Well, it doesn't look like there's anything here now. Let's go back inside, Clark, and you can finish telling us the rest."

"Oh great, I get to eavesdrop some more." Lex felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. There was no right choice here. Obviously he couldn't stay in the barn - it was too far from the house. He supposed he could stay in a different room while the Kents talked... Or he could figure he was in for a penny, in for the whole pound and trail Clark around like a lovesick puppy. No matter how many metaphors he had to mix to describe it. 

As he followed Clark and his dad back to the house, Lex frowned. He wished he wasn't so weak on his principles. He tried to be good - the Kent type of good, not the Luthor type - and yet it never seemed to work for him the way it did for them. Something always went wrong. Maybe it was because he was trying from an outside perspective; he was forcing it instead of it coming naturally, so it came off wrong. But it *wasn't* instinctive for him, so how was he supposed to do otherwise? 

The Kents sat around the kitchen table with apple juice and milk and cookies fresh out of the oven, and they started to talk about what else happened after Lex was shot. 

"The hell with it." Lex walked to the living room and sat down on the couch, putting his head in his hands, ignoring the meteor rock that he still held. He wanted to be sitting there at the table with them, listening to what they said, hearing what they thought of his dad, hearing what they thought of *him*. 

Really, though, he wanted mostly just not to be a ghost.

... ... ... 

 

Clark told his parents the rest of it, including Lionel's new-found vision. 

Martha frowned at that. "I had wondered - he's been doing a lot more 'testing' than he used to. Leaving folders out where I can snoop and other obvious tactics. It's been very tempting." She sighed, "Well, it will be a relief not to work for him anymore, though we'll miss the money. "

Both of the Kent men looked at her with wide eyes. Martha shook her head at them. "This was only temporary, you both knew that." Even though she knew they had never believed it, it really had been her intent from the start.

"Yes, but..."

"If he's regaining his sight," Martha said firmly, "then he doesn't need somebody to read to him, and I'm not going to Metropolis. My home is here." She shrugged, "And if he's already suspicious, then there's nothing more I can learn on what he knows about Clark." She was worried about Lionel; she'd known what she was getting into, however his levels of intrigue were far above what she had grown up with, though it was a similar world.

"I think he's suspicious by nature," Clark contributed.

Martha waved a hand, then got up and started clearing the table. She needed something to do. "It doesn't matter. I'll continue until Lex is back. Tomorrow, I'll go over to the mansion while you're at school and see what they have found."

Clark automatically got up and helped her. "I want to go out to the plant, check out around there and see if I can find any traces of Lex."

"Oh, that reminds me - Gabe called here earlier, looking for Lex."

Clark dropped the dish he was holding but then blurred quickly and caught it. "Mr. Sullivan? When?"

Even Jonathan looked up, surprised.

"A couple of hours ago." Martha caught Jonathan's look, "You were out in the fields."

Putting the dish down on the counter, Clark headed for the phone. "I'm going to call him," he announced.

"Hi, Chloe - is your dad there?" There was a few minutes of talk while Clark deflected Chloe's questions and instead wormed out her dad's location. "I promise I'll call you later, Chloe!"

He hung up and then picked it up again, explaining briefly, "He went to the plant."

Clark's parents looked at each other. "Lex?"

"Chloe didn't know... oh, hi Mr. Sullivan. Mom said you called earlier looking for Lex. No, he's not with me; he, uh, well, why are you looking for him?"

There was a longish pause as Clark's eyes widened. "Whoa, wait - Mr. Luthor sent *his* people in to look through the plant? Not the security that was already there?"

Suddenly Clark dropped the phone, wincing hard. "Ouch!" The lights in the house flickered.

"Clark?" Martha moved up to him, worried.

"Uh, feedback." Clark scooped up the phone again. "Mr. Sullivan? Sorry about that. Something must have been in the phone line."

Jonathan looked worriedly around the house and the lights. "I think I'll go check the circuit box." He left out the back door while Clark was still on the phone.

Finishing the conversation, Clark started to walk out.

"Clark!" Martha summoned him back. When he came back, she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Sorry." Clark shuffled his feet. "Mr. Luthor was going to have someone look through the plant for Lex... Mr. Sullivan just said that the plant security called him because *LuthorCorp* security just came on through. They didn't say what they were looking for to the guys at the gate and they also refuse to talk to Mr. Sullivan. Right now, Mr. Sullivan and them are kindof in a standoff - he locked down most of the plant, but they were already in, and they won't tell him why and he can't get ahold of Lex and the mansion is giving him the runaround. So I'm going to go out there and tell him what's going on."

Martha thought about it and while she wanted to keep Clark with her, safe, she knew that wasn't going to happen. "Take the truck," she said mildly.

Clark bounced slightly on his toes. "It will take forever! I can run much faster."

"If the plant's security is on alert," Jonathan came in, scraping his boots, "You'll be pretty darn obvious walking up or slipping in the back without a car. Take the truck."

With a grimace, Clark grabbed the keys off the wall hook where he'd put them earlier and left.

As the door slammed behind him, Martha and Jonathan looked at each other. "Did you find the problem?" Martha asked.

"He'll be all right," Jonathan answered the unasked question instead, and gave her a hug.

... ... ...

 

Lex followed Clark to the truck and gingerly stepped through the door to get in the passenger seat. The mix of insubstantial while still able to do things like sit down was very odd. He still had a tendency to sink down into whatever he sat on, but he was just thankful he could get in the car and go with Clark instead of the car driving through him.

He also thanked the Kents for talking Clark into taking the truck instead of running. For one thing, he just didn't want to have to go through the pain again, but they were also very much on the mark about the security. The small-town living hadn't done them any favors in learning to be careful. They taught Clark to lie, but they also taught him to tell the truth. They taught him to hide, but they also taught him to help. And Clark being Clark, and the Kents being who they were, in times of stress, it was the truth and the help that came through.

Lex looked over and studied Clark as he drove. His features showed strongly at this angle; the cheekbones, the jawline, the intense eyes. Serious and careful like this, Clark looked more like a young man than the teenager Lex was used to thinking of. Clark was growing up. Last year, he was obviously young and still learning. His long talks with Lex were about teenage angst and exploring the things that Lex had experienced. This year, Clark had grown. He was more confident, more secure in himself, and he was more handsome than ever. 

Turning to stare out the window, Lex sighed. He hadn't meant to go there, but he always did. He wanted Clark. He wanted him so much it hurt. And yet, he was more afraid to lose him.

 

"Clark." Gabe Sullivan met them at the entrance and escorted Clark back to his office. The normally jocular man had no laugh lines right now, but was instead drawn and worried. He sat down and gestured Clark to one of the other seats. "So, where is Lex?"

With a gulp, Clark started, "Well, this is going to sound really weird..."

Gabe snorted. "Three years ago, something might have sounded weird. Then we moved to Smallville."

"Um, right." Clark went into his explanation again.

Lex, not really wanting to sit through it again, wandered off into the hall. He was starting to get used to walking through walls, with that extra flicker of vision as he stepped through. At some point, he was going to have to explore that more. 

The plant didn't have a lot of secrets, not since he'd turned Level Three into a research station - a more above-board research station than his dad had run. However, that didn't mean he wanted his father's people running around loose. Even if their primary orders were to search for Lex, he just knew they would be doing other things too. Sabotage was one possibility. Bugs were another. Leaving back doors open, both figuratively and literally. Gabe had contained the damage so far, but as far as they had gotten could still be problematic.

Where he really wanted to be was a floor down. Lex glanced over to Gabe's office, wondering if his tether extended that far. The stairs were definitely too far.

Breathing in, Lex settled himself and then imagined he was out scuba diving in the Caribbean. Weight belt around his waist. Sinking down in the water slowly as he watched the fish and surrounding coral. Slowly, he watched the walls as they rose, as he sank through the floor, into that in-between zone where his vision flickered and he saw duct work and ventilation and cables and wires. And then he was at the ceiling below. 

Lex let out his breath. And promptly shot up to where he'd been before.

"Okay..." Lex shook his head and walked back into Gabe's office.

Clark was in the middle of reciting a conversation Lex had once had with him about the protections he'd made for LexCorp.

"The files are with a lawyer in Southern California. Judge Ross knows how to contact her. We couldn't file directly with Judge Ross because of conflict of interest."

Lex's eyebrows went up and he perched on a corner of Gabe's desk, listening intently. Clark was getting Lex's tone, voice pattern, words, everything absolutely identical. There were a few minutes of conversation with Clark going through both Lex's and Clark's side of the conversation. A conversation that was months ago before Lex had left for Metropolis. As far as Lex could remember, it was all correct.

"So while I'm gone, Gabe and the others should have no problem with the plant, even if something happens to me." 

"Okay, Lex. But really--- Ah..." Clark broke off the recital, burning a bright red. "That was it for relevant stuff."

Lex half-smiled remembering the next part. Ever since last year, when Lex had given Clark the foil and almost left, Clark had become much more bold in asking Lex for things. When he realized that Lex *would* stay because Clark asked him too, he asked it more often. But this time, Lex couldn't say yes. Clark had asked him to stay... and Lex had to tell him no. Dad was in the hospital, the vultures were circling, and Lex had to go back to Metropolis or see it all crumple down. Instead, he'd given Clark a strong hug and told him with earnest truth that he didn't want to go. Clark had been closer than he'd known to being kissed that day.

"That must be useful, to have that sort of memory," Gabe remarked.

"Well, no, not really." Clark grimaced. "It helps in reciting the Declaration of Independence or remembering math equations, but I still have to understand the rest." Under his breath, he muttered, "And it's just one more freaky thing about me." Louder, he added, "It also doesn't help for actually remembering - it just means when Chloe asks me where was I, I can remember in every single detail of vivid 3-D recall of me telling her ‘sure, no problem, I'll be there.'"

Gabe looked at him with sympathetic understanding. "Clark..." Gabe hesitated. "You know Chloe was only trying to help, don't you? She wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you."

"I know." Clark sighed, obviously instantly knowing what Gabe was talking about. "The adoption papers. It's just..." Clark's eyes drifted to outside the room. "Chloe meant well, I know. But..."

Lex was curious to know what Clark would say. This was obviously one of those areas that Clark just didn't talk about, ever, and he lied very badly. 

"My adoption wasn't... It isn't..."

Lex still didn't know quite what all that was about. Obviously his father had been involved. Though his father's method of help wasn't what most sane people would call ‘help'. An agency that handled two adoptions and then disbanded? Oh come on. It was like Lionel wanted it to be found and investigated at some point. Lex was still looking for his previously unknown brother; he didn't believe Lionel that he'd died. He was actually a bit relieved that Clark wasn't his brother, though at the time he'd wanted it very much. Family that he could be loved and accepted in. But his feelings for Clark were so tangled that ‘brother' didn't even begin to cover them.

Gabe let Clark off the hook and went back to the original subject. "Thank you for letting me know about the arrangements Lex made. That will help. I'll call Judge Ross and get the information so we can get started on the legal requirements. Keeping LuthorCorp out of here is a priority if we don't want to be reabsorbed."

There was a note in Gabe's voice that made both Clark and Lex look at him.

Gabe shook his head. "Right now, we're the focus of a war between Luthors. That's not exactly a fun place to be. Our loyalty is to Lex, since he did his best for us, and saved us from the plant-closure... but it's not a peace-time service. It's war, and none of us originally signed up to be soldiers." He sighed, "Oh, Lex has done his best to keep us out of it, but he's still young.

"21 years old and his father dumps him out here to be in charge of the plant with no previous managerial experience whatsoever." Gabe grimaced. "It was a darn good thing for us that Lex is both really smart and really dedicated, because that could have been a disaster."

Those first few months had been hell, in fact. Lex echoed Gabe silently, remembering his head swimming in files upon files, net research, books, carefully learning without losing his position. The bright spot in all of that had been Clark. If it hadn't been for Clark's openness and his joy in their burgeoning friendship, Lex might well have chucked it all and gone back to Metropolis. Clark had given him a reason to stay.

"I just wish Lex had told *us* about the arrangements," Gabe said resignedly. "But we're used to that." 

Clark blinked at him.

"Lex doesn't trust us. We were part of LuthorCorp, and even though he bought us with blood and struggle, who's to say we wouldn't prefer peaceful?" Gabe shrugged. "He's right. A lot of the fellows aren't easy with the power-play, and they don't think we would have been shut down if Lex hadn't been over here in the first place."

True enough.

"But it does make it hard to work for him sometimes."

Lex would have to remember that. Not everybody was loyal... but he would lose even those who were if he didn't trust them. He would have to trust Gabe, obviously. And he would have to think about the others.

"I'm going to call Judge Ross now and see what she has. Is there anything you'd like to do?"

Clark stood up, recognizing the dismissal. "I'd like to look around the plant. I know you've already searched it, but if Lex is anywhere around..."

Gabe's mouth twisted in sympathy. "Yeah. I'll call security and let them know you'll be through. You know about safety regulations in certain areas, right? Your school plant tour was interrupted, but you got the core information?" Gabe got up and pulled down a hardhat from his shelf and a reflective jacket from the wall and handed them both to Clark. 

Clark obediently put them on, and Lex's mouth twisted in a wry smile. Clark and safety; not really needed. They left to explore the plant.

"Any other day," Lex remarked, not finishing the sentence, but leaving it hanging as he walked beside Clark. He was walking next to Clark, but Clark didn't know he was there. They had their day together, the day that they were supposed to spend just the two of them, and they were... but Clark didn't know it. Not what Lex had in mind.

 

Lex Luthor was bored, bored, bored. If you'd ever asked him before he would have said that a nice quiet day would be a good thing get some rest. However, being a ghost and having a nice quiet day was boring as hell.

Okay, so the visit with Chloe had been interesting, in its own way. After Clark had found nothing at the plant, for once he kept a promise and went to talk to Chloe. Who grilled him mercilessly. She would make a great reporter one day if she didn't get herself killed first. Clark hadn't wanted to tell her about Lex but he couldn't think up a good enough reason *not* to and that was his undoing. Though Lex noted from the other evasions that Chloe appeared to know nothing about Clark's other secrets. At least Lex wasn't the only friend in the dark.

Watching the interactions between them, Lex felt sorry for Chloe. He would have preferred to spend his time trying to hook Clark up with Chloe - she had the spunk, the drive, the brilliance and loyalty that would be a good mate for him. But Clark wanted the princess, so the princess he would have. And Lex would do anything to get Clark what he wanted.

Dinner at the Kents had also been interesting. Did all families have dinner conversations like that? Though they were subdued from worrying about Lex, they were still talking about things - how the farm was doing, the henhouse repairs, the new shop opening on Main street, Clark's homework, his teachers, what they'd seen on the Discovery channel the other night. All sorts of things. And Lex couldn't join in.

He had to sit there the whole time. Just sit, and listen. He wanted to join in. He wanted to go home and do some research on the computer. He wanted to talk to Gabe and build up trust he didn't know he was missing. He wanted to figure out what was happening to him. He wanted to tell Clark he was sorry for his interest in meteor rocks and swear he wouldn't ever touch one again. 

Well, okay, maybe not all of that last. But Lex would certainly take more care on research in the future.

And then it was time for bed. Early hours yet, compared to what Lex was used to. Farmer's hours. Lex absent-mindedly followed Clark up to his bedroom just the same as he'd been following him around for the last several hours. 

In his room, Clark walked to the window and stared out. "Lex, please be okay," he pleaded.

Lex went to him and placed a hand in the vicinity of Clark's shoulder, slightly in and slightly out of Clark. "I am. I am; it's okay."

They stayed like that for a bit, looking out at the night. Clark finally turned back in. He walked to his bed and knelt down, pulling out from underneath it a familiar slender piece of metal. Holding the fencing sword gingerly, Clark put it next to him, and then also pulled out every other gift Lex had ever given him. Not as many as Lex had wanted to give, but he'd been mindful of Jonathan's restrictions and tried to be careful, only when appropriate or he could get away with casual. Clark arranged them all before him, running his fingers over them, turning them over; for all the world looking like it was some sort of arcane summoning spell. 

"You kept them all?" Lex sat down on Clark's bed and tried hard not to think of what that might mean. Okay, keeping the gifts, yes, that was normal. But collecting them, hiding them in a secure spot where all teenagers keep their precious items... Even Lex, though he hadn't been a normal teenager, had kept a box under his bed and forbade the maids to touch it. Clark kept his gifts under his bed. Clark *kept* his gifts. But maybe he did that for all his friends. For all Lex knew, there could also be a section for Chloe-gifts, and one for Pete-gifts. Lana-gifts would probably be enshrined on his dresser against the wall, not tucked away under a bed. 

Clark put away the foil and the other things and stood up, breathing deep, as if he was trying to control himself. He absently took off the flannel outer shirt, and then with one smooth move, he pulled his t-shirt off.

Lex stared at the smooth muscular chest, farmer tan and strong. More developed than he'd seen from last year on the infamous scarecrow night. More of a man's body. Lex's mouth went dry.

Clark's hands went to his pants and Lex suddenly realized he was watching his best friend undress. All the lights in the house flickered and went off, plunging them into darkness.

"Dad?" Clark called out, moving unhesitatingly towards the door and going into the hall.

Jonathan moved out of one of the other rooms with a flashlight in his hand. "I'll go check the box and reset the breakers. We had that earlier problem; this might be related."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, Son, this should be okay."

Clark wandered reluctantly back into his room, flipping off the bedroom switch as he did so. 

Lex elected to go with Jonathan, wondering just what it was that he had done to the lights. He was sure it was him, like he'd interfered with the phone earlier when he'd been so mad at his dad. Experimentally, Lex tried turning the lights back on again, but nothing happened. He tried tossing the meteor rock around but that did nothing. 

The main breaker was off. Jonathan methodically flipped it back. "Okay," he called out, "try turning something on."

Lights upstairs turned on and Jonathan closed the circuit box, going back inside the house. Lex stayed outside, looking up at the stars and listening to the sounds.

There were crickets chirping, frogs croaking, items being shuffled around in the barn as the horses moved, the hens doing the same. In the distance a dog barked. 

It was nothing new since he'd come to Smallville, and yet it was something he loved about the Kents' farm. Over at the mansion, while things were quiet, they just weren't the same. Same crickets, but they sounded different here. 

Lex wandered around the outside of the house until all the lights went off. Then he stayed out some more. The stars were wonderfully bright, unlike anything he'd ever seen in Metropolis. It was easy out here to see the constellations the way the ancient stories described them. The archer with his bow. Orion standing proud. The eagle flying free. Lex, swimming in the river of the Milky Way, looking down at his second chance in Smallville.

"Clark..." Lex stared at the stars and wondered what he should do.

... ... ... 

 

The next morning, when Clark woke up, he felt happy and relaxed. Until he remembered. 

With a groan, he rolled over and buried his head in the pillow. That wouldn't do any good though, so after a moment, he crawled out of bed. 

Before doing anything else, he went downstairs and grabbed the phone. It wasn't Lionel who answered the phone, but the person who did was wide awake and her voice didn't reflect the early morning hour. However, there wasn't any news about Lex.

Clark's mom flipped pancakes on the stove and offered him silent understanding and sympathy as Clark trudged back up the stairs again. He didn't care about school and he didn't care about morning chores. But he knew they both still had to be done. He didn't really have any ideas on how to rescue Lex anyhow. This was so much different than most of the other weird things that had happened in Smallville. He couldn't just go in to rescue Lex - there weren't any villains to fight, he couldn't break in somewhere where Lex was being held captive. Lex was just *gone*. Shot, bleeding and gone.

Brushing his teeth and looking in the mirror, Clark admitted to himself that there was another reason it was different as well. It was Lex. 

Lex had become so important to him in just a year. It was hard to believe he hadn't known Lex forever. He was a friend, a confidant, a person that Clark could look up to, a person that looked up to Clark. He knew that Lex admired him and that was a really rare thing. 

For a year, Clark had slowly gotten used to Lex and his way of putting all his attention and focus on Clark. It was both flattering and frightening. But by the end, Clark had grown to like and expect it. When Lex had run right by him to go to Desiree... it had hurt. It had hurt more than it should as a friend. 

From that point, Clark had started to look at himself. He didn't really want to admit it - it totally went against his view of himself. But he'd been open to trying something with Chloe, even though he didn't feel like that would work, and he was trying to be open to this too. Yet it scared him. With Chloe, if it hadn't worked, he was pretty sure they could still be friends. With Lex, as much as Lex was devoted to him, Clark was terrified that he could lose it all.

"Hi Dad," Clark greeted his dad as he went into the barn. 

"Morning, Clark." Jonathan was tossing hay down for the horses.

Clark gathered some of hay and tools and got ready for his morning run. The cows normally came in close to the farm edge for their food, but there were some outlaying sections where they needed to go out to the cows instead.

He started off, feeling the odd resistance that he'd had the day before. Then he heard his dad calling him. Dropping the hay, Clark came back, stumbling as he did so. It was worse. His throat felt tight and he couldn't get enough air in his lungs. He came back, checking for his dad and then falling to his knees to catch his breath when he saw his dad was okay.

"Clark!" Jonathan hurried over to him. "What's wrong?"

Just like the meteor rocks, Clark was recovering quickly. "I'm fine - what happened?"

"You are not fine." Jonathan grimaced but apparently knew he wouldn't get his answer first. "More blood - it was just like you described from the mansion, appearing from nowhere, splattering over the stalls. The horses were frightened but calmed down when it stopped." 

Clark looked over at the barn, x-raying until he could see the blood next to Dusty's stall. He relaxed a bit, seeing only a moderate spatter of blood and nothing like the puddle of it from the day before. Turning back to his dad, he saw Jonathan was waiting for his own explanation. 

"It was, I was running..." Clark returned his attention to the barn, suddenly puzzled. "It's my powers," he realized.

"Son?"

"It's my powers. Every time I use one of my powers, there's the blood. I didn't think about it before because it's not usually near me. My powers are on the blink and Lex is bleeding."

"You're having problems with your powers?"

Clark scuffed his feet a bit, "Didn't I tell you about that"

Jonathan tilted his head and looked at Clark in that way fathers everywhere do.

"Um, yeah." Clark gulped. "When I run, it feels like there's a headwind or something I'm struggling to get through, something holding me back. This last time, it just... my lungs, I couldn't breathe.

"With my strength - I've got the strength still, that's okay; except I get hurt using it."

Instantly concerned, Jonathan asked, "Hurt? Like meteor rock hurt?"

Clark shook his head, "No - more like normal hurt. I got scrapes on my hand when I broke a rock. Though they healed up like things would if meteor rock moved away."

"How about the others, your x-ray and heat vision?"

"I haven't used the heat vision since... well, since before Lex got shot. X-ray seems to be fine."

Jonathan nodded slowly. "You were running towards Lex when he disappeared."

"Well, I had been." He'd actually been collapsing in pain over the table, reaching out to Lex. Lex, reaching back towards him. Had their hands actually touched? Clark didn't think so. But he'd been so desperate, needing to get to that bullet and seeing it strike Lex. Too late.

"Wait, no - that can't be it," Clark suddenly remembered.

"Why not? It sounds connected."

"Last night - the blood on the loft stairs. I hadn't been doing anything at all right then. And they also found some blood in the castle when I wasn't around."

Jonathan frowned. "Well, we may not have the whole story, but it still sounds like there's something there. Don't use your powers anymore."

Clark blinked.

His dad repeated the practical advice. "Until Lex is found, you shouldn't use your powers. There's something hurting you, and that's the most direct connection we can see. You do the close-in chores - I'll get the outer ones. And Clark," Jonathan waited until Clark's attention was definitely on him. "Take the bus today."

With a grimace, Clark agreed. The problems while he was running worried him, and he didn't like the thought he was hurting Lex somehow. Blood on the ground, puddled next to the pond. Splatters across the mansion wall, over the loft's ladder, on the ground. Lex's blood. Without Lex.

 

"Clark!" Chloe greeted him with surprise as he got on the bus.

Clark looked around at the other students. "Where's Pete?"

"He's out with his brother this week in Indianapolis. But what are *you* doing here?"

"Oh, that's right. I forgot." Clark glanced around again and lowered his voice. "They haven't found Lex yet."

"I *know* that, you lug! That's why I'm surprised to see you."

"Where else am I supposed to be?"

Chloe opened and closed her mouth a few times, then finally shut it without saying anything. She shook her head. 

Clark sighed. "There's nothing I can do. This... Lex is gone - I have no way to find him. His dad has the castle turned upside down, with his scientists and machines everywhere. Your dad has the plant covered. All the hospitals are on alert. Even when he was kidnapped last month, it wasn't anywhere the same because we knew at least there was a person. Okay, a deranged insane person who tried to *kill* him - for God's sake, Mr. Luthor, did you *have* to say you wouldn't negotiate on tv? - but still, she was human. 

"Lex being gone now... He was shot. I saw him shot and he *vanished*." Clark trembled before he got himself under control. "What can I do about that?"

Chloe had stayed silent through Clark's whole recitation. Now she bit her lip. "That's not what I meant . I just thought you might stay home." She leaned over and hugged him as much as she could in the moving bus. "I'm sorry, Clark. I'm sorry Lex is hurt."

They clung together for a long few moments until some of the nearby teens started to mock them.

"I hope he's okay, Clark. You don't need this, especially after Ryan."

Clark reared back, suddenly on the defense. "Why does everybody keep bringing that up? Ryan has nothing to do with Lex! But all of you - Mrs. Tuppet, Karin, my mom, you... why do you think this is so much more about Ryan than Lex?!"

Chloe blinked several times. "Uh, well, because he just died. Clark, you tried so hard to do everything for him, and he was like your little brother - he meant so much, and he's gone. You never really... well, I don't think... um... Clark, this is just a bit much for you all at once."

Biting his lip, Clark also bit back his words. He wanted to scream out and get into an argument and act out with all the rage and worry he felt, but not on the bus. "Chloe, I was raised on a farm."

The city girl blinked at him, not understanding.

All his anger evaporated. None of them were farm people. Even his mom - she was a city person first. His dad hadn't brought up Ryan because he knew the difference. "I see death every day. It's not a big deal. Things and people have a span, and when that span is gone, it's gone. It's part of life. I don't like people to die, but it happens. I volunteer at the hospice because it's the right thing to do, and I get to know the people, and then they're gone. It's just what it is."

He took a deep breath. "Yes, Ryan could have been my little brother. And I'm sad that he's gone. But I did everything I could, and I said my goodbyes, and he's not in pain anymore." Clark shrugged uncomfortably. He knew that somehow, everybody seemed to expect him to just keep it bottled up - the counselors at school had been eyeing him funny for awhile now, with all the deaths and him finding bodies. But it didn't really bother him. Maybe it was an alien thing. Yet his dad wasn't bothered much either. Clark was pretty sure it was farm thing instead.

"So," Chloe said slowly, dragging it out as if she was reluctant to ask however her journalistic instincts were overriding her. "If it turned out Lex was dead, you'd get over him that quickly too?" In her voice was also a bit of a challenge.

Frustrated, Clark ran his hands through his hair. "No," he replied shortly. "It's Lex. And he's not dead."

"Lex is...?"

Lex was important to him. Not that Ryan hadn't been important too. But it was *LEX*. Clark turned and looked out the window, blindly seeing a vision of a tall slim figure, grace and elegance personified. A ready smile, an open heart. Eyes that devoured Clark while caution held him back. A genius with half a foot in the darkness as he looked out to the light. Somebody who trusted him, in spite of all Clark's lies. "It's Lex," Clark said again, softly.

With a small sigh, Chloe slumped in her seat beside him. "Well, at least it's not Lana."

Clark frowned and faced her. "What?" What did Lana have to do with anything?

Chloe smiled a bittersweet smile. "I don't think I could have stood losing to Lana. But Lex Luthor? That's not even in the same game. No shame there."

It was Clark's turn to gape. "Chloe, what are you talking about? Lex being lost isn't a game!"

"No, not a game," Chloe replied quietly. "And I really do hope Lex is okay."

"I do too." Clark was worried enough about Lex, he decided to ignore Chloe's weird segue. 

 

Clark was used to school going slowly, but this was hell. How was he supposed to concentrate on English or History when Lex was lost and hurting? Though when he could concentrate, it was better than the endless worry. In the classes they had together, Chloe stayed with him, offering mostly silent support. 

English finally let out and they headed off to the next class. As he walked, Clark felt a little dizzy and had to think if he'd had breakfast that morning. He thought he had, but he was really wasn't sure. It was a relief to sit down in Math class and know he wouldn't have to seriously think for awhile. Doing equations was something he could do in his sleep. Most of the time at school he had to concentrate on not finishing things too quickly or to make sure to get some things wrong. Freaky was one thing; geeky was another.

In the middle of the class, the PA system came on with an annoyed-sounding secretary. "Attention all students. Yes, tomorrow is Halloween. No, you can NOT pull pranks during school. Whoever is smearing fake blood around the hallways and lockers, stop it. This could be dangerous if anybody slips on it. And we're not going to allow any costumes tomorrow that drip blood!"

Clark jerked upright in his seat looking with wide eyes at the speaker in the wall. "It can't be," he whispered. 

"Clark?" Chloe hissed at him from a couple of seats back, a question in her eyes.

He shook his head. Tomorrow was Halloween. It was probably a prank like the secretary said. Just because he was a bit over-sensitive about blood right now...

... ... ... 

 

"Fuck!" Lex doubled up as the pain shot through him. He coughed, clenching his fist to try and stay stable. He staggered a couple of steps and then straightened. He'd completely lost track of time. 

Right after History class, he'd ditched Clark and gone exploring around the school. The night before, he'd mapped out his tether to a T. Only problem was, it wasn't a ‘t' but an ‘i' - the range was variable. Clark would be asleep in his bed, not going anywhere, and sometimes Lex could get out to the barn and sometimes not. Sometimes he couldn't even get much further than the front porch. It drove him nuts. As controlled an experiment as you could get and unable to replicate the results. Obviously he wasn't allowing for all the elements, but he just couldn't figure what might be missing.

At the school, he knew he needed to stick around, but once Clark was in class, there wasn't anything holding him to boring high school classes. Except for History because they were reviewing the Second Punic War. Lex had a certain fondness for war elephants. 

English though, that was definitely a miss. Lex first hung out in the principal's office and eavesdropped until he got bored. Then he moved on and watched some Smallville teens attempt to be rebellious by skipping and doing drugs on the side. They had nothing on Metropolis teens. Though the conversation they were having about green glowing sand over in the playground was both interesting and disturbing.

And he'd completely lost track of time. Even though the school bells had rung and teens had gone dashing around everywhere, Lex had completely forgotten that *he* needed to move too. Until he started bleeding.

Where was Clark's next class? Lex waited for the pull that would bring him closer, hoping to go on his own two feet to keep from hurting as much. He might be a ghost, but he would be an independent ghost, damnit.

"Ouch!" Lex banged into the lockers against the hall and staggered back. He looked at them in surprise; at his red handprint with his blood against it. 

Before he could think of it too much, his stomach roiled and he found himself coughing up blood, his body rebelling against the hole inside it. A tug pulled him down the hallway and he staggered that way.

Finally, he was back inside the safe zone. Lex waited for the pain to go away, until the rock stopped glowing and his veins were normal again. When he stopped bleeding and became a ghost again. Then he walked over to the lockers and poked his arm through one. It went through... however it didn't go smoothly, not like when he stepped through just about anything else.

"Have I tried walking through metal before?" Almost all walls had metal in them - electronics, support work, nails... even the castle wasn't all stone. But a solid piece of metal? Well, the cars. Lex had to step through the doors to get into the passenger seats. He hadn't bounced off one. Though he hadn't been glowing green and being tugged along at the time.

"Humm..." Lex thought about it as he wandered down the hallway until he found the class that Clark was in. Math. That was appropriate.

When the announcement came over the loudspeaker, Lex watched Clark. The teen's reaction was basically what he'd expected, though the brush-off Chloe kept getting was a little odd. It made Lex feel a bit better to know he wasn't the only one to get the range of Clark evasions. At the same time, he was worried for Clark. If he kept throwing away his friendships like this, someday they may not be there anymore.

"Clark, you have to tell her at least some of it." He could see why Clark was shy about letting anybody know about his powers - not just one, but four of them. For a town that had odd people all the way through it the townspeople were very unforgiving when those powers came out in their population. 

Looking back on it, it was obvious how much Clark helped. All the inexplicable rescues, not just Lex's own, but also so many other people. This town had an invisible savior and his name was Clark. Yet every invisible rescue, every disappearance and cover-up, the further Clark got from his friendships. He was saving others, and losing himself.

After class, Lex expected them to head out to the cafeteria for lunch, but instead both went to the journal office. 

"So?" Chloe sat down at one of the computers and cocked her head expectantly at Clark.

Clark stood uneasily in the middle of the room and didn't quite shuffle his feet. "After Lex disappeared, weird things started happening at the castle. Blood would appear out of nowhere and drip on the ground or spatter on the walls."

Chloe stared at him. "Really?"

Lex rolled his eyes - she sounded more excited than disbelieving or disgusted. That was Chloe.

"Yeah. I never saw it happen directly, but others did. I saw the blood. There was a puddle ..." Clark started to shake. He closed his eyes and got himself under control again. "It's been happening since Lex disappeared."

Lex walked over to Clark and stood facing him but off to one side so that their opposite shoulders brushed. "I'm here, Clark. It's okay." His words of reassurance were starting to get repetitive. For all his eloquence in other matters, his vocabulary failed him at this point. Yet he needed to speak. Clark worried so much. Lex wanted Clark to know he was here and it was okay. But nothing he did helped at all and he wasn't really there and it wasn't really okay. 

"Humm... at the castle - any place else?"

Clark looked at her warily.

Chloe impatiently drummed her fingers and looked at him.

Clark sighed. "Also at home, in the barn. We didn't find any at the plant or anywhere else."

"Your place?" Chloe's eyes widened, then narrowed. "And now here at the school. Has it happened again at the castle since yesterday?"

"I didn't ask. And that could have been a Halloween prank."

Looking at him skeptically, Chloe tossed him her cell phone. "Ask. This could be important."

As Clark called, she powered up the computer and started doing searches. Lex watched over her shoulder and noticed that she wasn't doing a random google search or anything that simplistic, but actually had several sites and database programs set up for the weird and unusual. And what was coming back quite frequently was "ghostly haunts." Lex chuckled to himself.

"They did find some outside in the grounds, but it was all dried up. Nothing fresh. Mr. Luthor is sounding frustrated," Clark reported, handing Chloe back her cell phone. Then he went to a corner of the room and dug food out from a refrigerator Lex hadn't noticed sitting there. Clark gave some of it to Chloe and then sat down at a computer next to her and did some similar searches with different key words. Then they started comparing notes.

Lex was impressed. He'd always known Chloe was a go-getter and sharp in her investigations, however watching here, she also was intelligent and reasonable about it. And Clark was learning to be so alongside her.

Moving around to the other side, out of direct sight of the teenagers, Lex studied the computers. He'd pretty much gotten lights down the night before, figuring out how to turn them on and off with ease, without tripping the breakers or blowing anything else. He could even do subtle variations on the dimming if the lights were set up for dimmers. Computers, at their base, were electronics, with a binary pattern creating all other responses. There was more to it, of course, but...

Putting his hand into the monitor, Lex found the on/off switch and flicked it on, feeling the surge of energy as the connections were made. Then he put the rock down on top of the hard drive and concentrated on the computer.

 

When the class bell rang, Lex was deep in concentration. He'd managed to get most of the basics on the computer up and running and had opened up webpages, but so far could only do bookmarked items. Same with word documents - pre-saved were okay, but typing on his own still eluded him. 

He barely looked up from his work until somebody sat down through him. Then he jumped, flickering the monitor and putting the computer into restart. The kid who had sat down looked up at the computer and whined. "Oh man! Teach' - there's something wrong with this computer!"

Lex backed away, shuddering with reaction. If there was one thing he really really REALLY hated about being a ghost, it was having people stepping through him. If he did it deliberately, it was amusing; the rest of the time, it was just disturbing. Lex walked over to Clark and sat down on the floor next to him, leaning up against the strong leg and ignoring the way he was floating in and out of it. Yes, he knew he was being contradictory, but Clark was different. With Clark, he was safe.

After his breathing recovered, he glanced up at Clark, "Aren't you supposed to be in your next class?"

Looking around at the rest of the class, Lex realized they *were* in the class - this was high school journalism. And there really was a teacher for it. Lex hadn't actually thought there was one, considering how much free rein Chloe had over everything. 

Reminded, he twisted around to look at her, and she was still plugging away on her own research items. The teacher walked over to her and just glanced curiously at the screen before turning to help the student next to Chloe. Apparently, Chloe really was the star journalist and able to be left on her own. Clark, though, was studiously following the teacher's instructions like the rest of the class. Still had a ways to go.

Tilting his head back, and imagining he was actually resting it on something solid, Lex closed his eyes. He couldn't sleep - apparently ghosts didn't sleep. He did, however, feel tired and wanted to rest.

... ... ...

 

Chloe ignored her own bruised heart and concentrated on trying to find Lex. The young owner of the plant was always a bit of an enigma, both controlled and open in the oddest ways. His friendship with Clark, however, was real. She'd watched them both and while Pete grumbled about Clark falling under Lex's spell, Chloe knew it was the other way around. That also put Lex into a rare group of people who appreciated Clark for what he was. Chloe was still surprised to this day how few people did - it was as if Clark had some sort of field around him that most people couldn't see through. 

Even living as neighbors for their whole life, it had taken a few dramatic rescues for Lana Lang to finally notice Clark. And once she did, Whitney was history. Chloe tightened her mouth, irritated with that. She did prefer Lex Luthor to Lana Lang. At least Lex acknowledged she existed.

The research on blood and ghosts was mostly coming up with people who had died. While that was certainly a possibility, Chloe shoved it to one side. Until all other options were gone, Lex was alive. 

Clark was the biggest factor. The blood was obviously following him around, though Clark himself was never at the center of it. Which was a point in itself. Odds on, you would expect Clark to be in the middle of this, not just off to a side.

Also, Clark's reactions showed there was more to it than he was telling Chloe. Chloe had learned to be careful when approaching anything close to Clark's secrets, skirt around them, be circumspect when talking about them. Most of the time Clark didn't even notice. Except for his adoption papers. Chloe hadn't expected *that* at all. More telling than if he'd just stayed quiet.

With a sigh, Chloe pushed that hurt to one side. It didn't ever do any good, and she just learned to deal with it. But it would be so much easier to find things out if Clark would just *tell* her everything in the first place.

When the bell rung, Chloe put some programs on to run correlation tests, and then left with the rest of the class. She would check back between classes to see how things were going.

 

After school, Chloe and Clark met back in the Torch's office again. As always, Chloe was fascinated by just how much weird stuff there was in the world. The results were more than mere coincidence, and yet every article dismissed them as such. Not much helped for Lex's situation, though. 

It was the meteor rocks that made the difference. Nobody understood all that much about them, and the rest of the world didn't have them. So they didn't make it into any database except her own. 

Chloe chewed on a pen cap. Now, the meteors mostly worked on subconscious desires... she looked over at Clark working on his computer and suppressed a snicker. Between Clark and Lex, there was more than enough subconscious desire going on to feed an elephant. They both, however, already *had* been affected by meteors before, and most everything she turned up had it as a one-time deal. Once you got a power, that was that. Clark, though, was weird. He didn't follow normal meteor rock rules. And Lex's power was growing - in the time he'd been here at Smallville, things that would have originally laid him in a hospital bed for weeks he now shrugged off. Luckily for him, considering how much of the weirdness was drawn to him.

Chloe straightened up suddenly. Clark and Lex hadn't been the only two people in the room when Lex was shot. She minimized her other programs and brought up a new search tool to find out information on the shooter.

Thoughtfully, Chloe tapped her fingernails on the screen. She wished they had enough time for her to go interview the guy personally. Yet it was fairly straight-forward. He'd been laid off, no insurance, son dies from a lingering wound that got infected, father goes on a shooting spree. She wished one of these deranged people would actually go for *Lionel Luthor* sometime instead of Lex. But to be fair, there were enough that did; Lionel just had better security.

So the desire of the shooter wasn't just to see Lex dead - he didn't even care about Lex. He just wanted to make Lionel suffer by ‘losing a son'. Combined with Clark's desire to save Lex, that was probably just muddled enough for the meteor rock to twist it into something weird. Chloe also didn't like the similarities between the son's death and Lex's bleeding all over the place. It had taken the kid three days to die. They were now on the second day of Lex's disappearance.

"Chloe, we're out of soda. I'm going to go get some more from the cafeteria."

Waving a hand, Chloe barely noticed when Clark left.

She did, however, notice when she was sprayed with blood.

Involuntarily, she screamed.

Clark was back within seconds, as Chloe was still studying the drops on her shirt and arms. 

"Chloe!" Clark skidded to a halt next to her and reached out for her.

Chloe waved him off, "I'm okay." Thoughtfully she looked from the door to her arms to Clark. "It's when you leave."

"What?"

"The blood. You left, and it appeared. And you weren't anywhere near any of the other instances either. It doesn't have to do with your presence, it's your absence."

"Absence from *where*?" Clark ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. "Chloe, it's not like I don't leave anywhere else - why isn't it still happening at the castle? At home? Why didn't it happen at all at the plant?"

Chloe was only listening with half an ear as she prowled around the office. Suddenly she came to point again. One of the computers was on - one that she and Clark hadn't been using. 

Going up to it, Chloe studied what was on the screen and drew in her breath sharply.

"What? What is it?" Clark came up behind her.

Tracing a finger over the monitor and the window that was up, Chloe grinned. "Well, hello, Lex."

Clark looked around wildly.

Taking pity, Chloe explained, "This is a LexCorp internal site, and the log-in is Lex. Data on meteorite research. The other screen..." Chloe brought up one of the reduced windows and laughed, "Is using one of my database programs to plug in more information. Poltergeists, Lex?"

Bringing up a word program and leaving it on the screen, Chloe stepped back and crossed her arms.

Words started appearing on the screen. ‘Very good, Chloe - always knew you were the smart one.

‘Clark, I'm sorry.' The typing paused, cursor blinking.

Clark's mouth was agape. "Lex?" He waved his hand through the seat, with no resistance. "Lex? Is that really you?" The monitor blinked on and off. Suddenly, Clark started to slump - he grabbed a chair next to the computer and sat down heavily. "Lex, are you okay?" The green eyes glistened suspiciously. Chloe turned slightly to one side to give him a bit of privacy. But she wasn't going to miss this for the world.

‘I'm here, Clark. Just... not very substantially here.'

Chloe snorted at that. It was definitely Lex to a T. And she noticed he didn't actually answer Clark's question.

‘I'm sorry, Clark - I didn't mean to listen, but I couldn't get away.'

Clark blinked a few times as he read it, then his face slowly paled. 

Chloe's eyebrows raised. Oh-ho, now... Lex had been following Clark around for the last day, even if not entirely voluntarily, and he'd seen, and heard, all of Clark's secrets. Fascinated, Chloe watched Clark, wondering how he was going to take it. Right now, the youth was terrified. After all they'd been through, Chloe didn't really know why Clark was so worried about any of them knowing about his powers. But it was like the adoption thing - one just never knew what was going to hit a mine traversing the fields that were Clark. Chloe had her suspicions... and now it looked like Lex had fact.

Clark gulped. "As long as you're okay. Lex, I was going crazy. God Lex."

Most of the lights in the room flickered and the monitor blinked again.

Humm... Chloe studied it and then looked around them too. 

"Why didn't you say something earlier!?" Clark exploded.

The monitor was still for awhile, then more writing. ‘I tried, but couldn't earlier. Computer is new. Learned lights last night. Getting easier.'

"I'm sorry, Lex," Clark was horrified. "I didn't mean to imply.... I just... it..."

‘It's okay, Clark. I know.'

"So how do we get you back?" Clark turned to the practical.

There was a long pause with nothing on the screen. Then a single question mark.

Clark exchanged a look with Chloe. "You don't know?"

‘Now how would I know, seeing as I've been a ghost for the last 28 hours!'

Chloe smothered a giggle. That was definitely Lex. 

Clark glared at Chloe as if to make up for Lex not being able to do it. Then he turned back and he and Lex started discussing what they had learned so far.

Moving back a bit, Chloe didn't join in, but instead watched the chair. She didn't think either Clark nor Lex had noticed, but whenever Lex did a long set of typing on the computer, red drops would fall to the seat, resting on top of more clotted blood from earlier. 

"Lex," she interrupted the boys. "When Clark is too far from you, you start bleeding?" She wanted to confirm that. He acknowledged it on the computer. 

Clark looked horrified - he'd apparently been so happy to have this contact with his friend back that he'd forgotten about that part.

"How bad is your wound?"

Lex gave a synopsis of the bullet's path in clinical terms, and confirmed there was also blood in his stomach, however, he insisted that at the moment he was fine - it was just when he forgot to follow Clark that things happened.

Chloe rolled her eyes at the way Lex had turned that around to make it his fault for not keeping up with Clark. And also at how oblivious Lex was sometimes. "Do you bleed at any other time?"

‘No.'

"You're bleeding now," Chloe finally pointed out.

Predictably, Clark freaked out. But he managed to do it fairly quietly, though his concern for Lex was bubbling over the surface.

Lex didn't say anything for awhile, then finally came out with. ‘Tired. The computer... isn't so easy to work.'

"Then don't do it!" Clark reached out and hovered his hand in the empty air finally putting it on the back of the chair. "Lex, we'll find another way. It's okay, don't hurt yourself."

Chloe bit her lip. She understood about Clark's worry, but they weren't going to find any other way - the only hope they had was combining resources. And she was worried about the time limit that they didn't know about. The possible time limit.

On the computer, Lex was saying just that to Clark. About the no choice, that is. He didn't know about the time.

Clark gave in with a sigh, and then they all started working together again. 

As they compared notes, every now and again, Clark would start to say something and then hesitate, glance at Chloe, and change words. Chloe was really getting tired of Clark's stupid secrets. If he couldn't even get over them when trying to help *Lex*... God help the rest of them. 

It was okay, though, she was conversant in Clark-speak and could figure out the parts he was leaving out. What was really interesting was how Lex was supporting Clark in the double-speak, while still managing to get Chloe information. He really was Clark's friend.

Some time later, Chloe stopped them. "Okay, I have an idea."

The boys looked at her. Well, Clark did, and Chloe was sure that Lex was too.

"Clark, go out to the gym, stay there for a minute, and then come back. Lex, you stay here."

Clark's eyes went wide. "That will hurt Lex!"

Chloe nodded. 

Clark's mouth tightened.

The lights flickered and they both looked at the monitor. ‘Clark, do it.'

One thing Lex had never lacked for was courage. Chloe smiled lopsidedly at the person she couldn't see.

Reluctantly, Clark left. Chloe watched carefully as blood started dropping down and then followed across the room as Lex moved towards Clark. An extra spray of blood showed when he coughed. And something flickered in her sight that wasn't blood. 

Chloe reached out, catching Lex's hand but going through it. "Lex, can you grab me?"

Lex's transparent hands reached out to hers and Chloe almost felt something but not quite. She got another splatter of blood on her shirt as Lex coughed again and she *heard* it that time as well. 

Suddenly, Lex was pulled from her as he was invisibly dragged away. He dimmed from her sight until all she could see again was the blood dripping down.

Then Clark was back, looking around the room in dismay. "Lex!" he called out, heading straight to the point where Chloe last saw Lex and dropping to his knees.

Giving the boys some time together, Chloe walked back to her computer, her heart pounding. God. If she was wrong about this... But Lex had been getting visibly weaker while they talked, the blood dripping, the computer's responses sluggish and short. And Chloe didn't think she was wrong about the time limit. The son had died of his wounds in three days. They only had one left, and that day was on Halloween. Chloe would be a fool to think there was nothing of significance there. They were losing Lex. The more he adapted to being a ghost, the closer he got to being permanently one.

"Chloe?"

Chloe realized Clark had spoken her name several times. She looked up at him with haunted eyes. She looked to Clark's left, where Lex normally stood when he was with Clark. Taking a deep breath, she explained.

There was a long silence afterwards. Even the lights, which had periodically been flickering, were steady. It gave a false cheer to the night.

"Are you sure?" Clark asked, his voice funny-strange with emotions locked up inside.

Chloe laughed without humor. "How could I possibly be sure of something like that?"

The word program on Chloe's computer popped up. ‘We need to try it.'

"Lex..."

‘We have to.'

Clark's jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth, not saying what he so desperately wanted to say.

Chloe watched him and knew how important Lex was to him. It was hard, to be given that sort of choice. It was hard to run away.

"I'm sorry," Chloe said, "but I can't think of anything else. And I think we're out of time." Halloween would be too late; in her bones she was sure of that.

‘If you don't, I will.' 

Chloe blinked a little at that, but she was sure Lex would find a way. Probably while Clark was sleeping or something.

Clark apparently knew it too because he gave way with a sudden sigh. "Okay. The hallway?"

"Out by the lockers," Chloe nodded. She made sure she had her cell phone with her, and then they walked out in the deserted school. Technically, she and Clark should have been long gone too, but the school was very lax about kicking the students out if they had extra-curricular activities.

They stood in the hallway and there was an awkward pause.

"Lex..." Clark shuffled his feet around. He glanced at Chloe, and she raised an eyebrow but turned her back. It was at least a semblance of privacy.

"Lex, when you get back..." Clark stopped and then tried again. "Lex, we missed out on our movie day. I was looking forward to that more than you know. ‘Cause, Lex, I really do miss you. You..." Clark sighed. "I wish I could see you. Or touch you. If I could touch you I don't think I'd ever stop. Lex, I..." 

There was more scuffling of feet and sounds of Clark chickening out again. Funny, Chloe had thought Clark was mostly oblivious to his own feelings. Guess not. He was just good at pretending, and shoving things to one side he didn't want to deal with.

"Lex, I hope this works, because I want you back. I'm sorry."

There was a brief absence of sound and then a slam against the lockers. Chloe turned back around to find Clark gone and a blood smear up on the metal doors.

"Lex!" She hurried forward, arm outstretched. And she felt something. Concentrating, she found Lex's hand and held on, her fingers slipping through before stabilizing. 

"Fuck..." Lex's voice could be faintly heard, and Chloe had to grin at the language he was using.

Blood spattered around them, from his wound and from his coughing. Lex kept slamming up against the locker, being dragged out to where Clark was but not able to get to him.

Slowly, Lex became visible, blood smearing every inch of his body, his clothes torn and dirty. Chloe held on and she was able to actually *feel* him as his hand regained substance. His coughs tore apart the silence and blood sprayed around them.

Lex Luthor was back.

He gave her a somewhat cocky grin and then fell unconscious, slipping down to lie at her feet. A green meteor rock fell out of his hand and rolled on the floor before rocking to a stop.

Chloe quickly knelt beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder and listening to him breathe as she pulled out her phone and called 911. 

... ... ... 

 

"Hey," Lex tried to sit up in his hospital bed, but his muscles weren't obeying him. 

Clark quickly moved to his side and held him down. "Stop that."

Lex grinned up at his friend, happy to obey. Happy to be seen. Happy to be touched.

Clark left his hand on Lex's shoulder and looked him over. Lex suspected a bit of X-ray vision was involved as well from the attention Clark paid to his middle that was covered in blankets.

"It's only a flesh wound," Lex said blandly.

Clark gave him a glare.

Lex shrugged, "Hey, I've always wanted to say it."

The glare metamorphosized into a grin and Lex was transfixed by it. "Closet geek," Clark accused him, relaxing a bit.

"Not all that closeted," Lex murmured, unable to resist the entendre. 

Clark gave him a sharper look than normal, one that was also a bit possessive. But he didn't say what he was thinking. Instead, "I'm glad you're back."

"Me too." It really hadn't been one of Lex's more pleasant experiences. Though it was interesting.

"Lex..." Clark hesitated for a moment

Lex jumped in on the pause. "Clark, I'll never reveal anything I learned. I promise you that. And I'll protect you from the people like my father." As far as he could. To the grave, if necessary.

Clark smiled a shy little smile that was reminiscent of their early ones. It was trust, with a certain layering of fondness. "Don't go too far, Lex. I don't want you hurt, and I spend too much time rescuing you as it is."

A shadow crossed Clark's face. "I didn't want to leave you, Lex. Even if Chloe was right. Even if it brought you back. It was so hard to leave you..."

"I know." Lex raised his hand to grasp Clark's tightly. "But it worked. I'm here, everything's okay now."

Clark leaned over as if to give Lex a hug. It was the biggest surprise of Lex's life when Clark kissed him instead.

Clark drew back, his eyes anxious.

Lex couldn't move.

"Lex?" Clark's voice was worried.

"Umm..." Lex tried. Good, he did actually have a voice. His other hand came up to his lips and he traced the skin there.

Clark's eyes lit up into another grin, the green sparkling with delight. "Cat got your tongue?" He teased, purring. Lex wondered where he'd learned that voice. Deep and rich, doing sinful things to Lex's body...

Clark started to lean in again, but Lex recovered himself enough to stop him. "My dad could come in at any moment." He'd wondered where his dad was... his dad was an ass, but normally after surgery he was around as soon as he could be.

"Um," Clark scuffed the floor. "He and my parents are out in the waiting room. They sent me in first."

Lex's eyes widened, horrified. "Your parents and my dad gave us ALONE TIME?" He put the pillow over his head. That was about the worst thing he could think of. He was so embarrassed, he thought he was going to die.

Clark laughed and pulled the pillow off Lex. "Yeah, well," he shrugged, "I think they all kindof figured it wasn't something they could deny anymore."

Suspicious, Lex eyed Clark. He hadn't thought it was something the younger teen *knew*, let alone all the parents.

"I might have also said a few things..." Clark grinned lopsidedly. "And, by the way, Helen is going to go back to Metropolis hospitals. Not enough work for her down here in Smallville."

"Helen?" Lex blinked.

"No dates, Lex. Not with her. Not with any of them." Clark's voice was firm and commanding.

Lex first blushed and then looked with wonder at his friend. "When you make up your mind about something, you do it with a vengeance."

"I almost lost you, Lex. I almost lost you, and I don't want that to happen ever again."

The looks between them were serious. More than Lex could deal with right at the moment. He looked around for something to change the subject and saw all the black and orange decorations in the room.

"Hey Clark."

Clark looked at his friend suspiciously. "Yes?"

"Halloween is today, right?"

Clark blinked and also looked around. "Yeah, it is."

"I've figured out what my costume is going to be." Lex paused dramatically. "I'm going to be a ghost."

Clark hit him with the pillow.

  


* * *

  


END

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  **Extra Author Notes**   
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> -Yes, I know my timeline is a bit screwed. But I wanted it at Halloween for the challenge, and I didn't want it to be *too* early in Season Two... Hey, sometimes things in Smallville happen unrealistically quick. It's *possible* for Desiree and Ryan and Byron and all the rest to all have happened in just under two months... right? LOL Just say it's a Smallville timeline. ;p
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> \- Um, keep in mind that characters thoughts are *character* thoughts. Just because they say something doesn't always make it so. They're not omnipotent...
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> \- Okay, the weird things happening inconsistently to Lex? They're deliberate, not sloppy writing. ;p The power fluctuates and sometimes one thing happens and sometimes another. It's also advancing as time goes on. Lex is getting more connected to the meteorite as he gets used to being a ghost and working with his ghostly powers. Strong emotion at the time has a lot to do with breaking through to a ghost power in the first place, but after it takes concentration to use them. And the more connected Lex is to the meteorite and the powers, the more he can actually leave the rock itself behind. It was supposed to happen more slowly, developing over time, but, uh, yeah. ^^;
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> \- The tether distance variability? That's emotional too. Basically, if one or the other is thinking of each other, it shortens. If they're being all casual, it's longer. When Clark was asleep, it was mostly dependent on Lex's thoughts... but there was also Clark's dreams, so Lex didn't figure out the connection.
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> \- Poor Pete. He was originally supposed to be in the story, but with the deadline looming... I'm afraid it was just the easiest way to compress it down a bit. O.o
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> \- Okay... this was originally supposed to have taken place in a week - start on a Saturday, go through stuff, take some time through the week to develop the plot and end on Halloween Friday. Due to me spending most of the month on the first friggin' DAY, the timeline has been compressed. Radically. I, um, hope it wasn't so compressed at the end that it doesn't make sense anymore. ^^;;; {sweatdrops}


End file.
